India RPCV Charles L. Griffin Jr. writes: Why I am for universal national service
"I
served in a draft Army, but as a volunteer. I followed that with two
years in the Peace Corps, also as a volunteer. In total, I put in five
years of service that gave me experiences that would have been
difficult to gain on my own. Volunteers in the Peace Corps were also
from every walk of life, with the exception that most were college
graduates or had valuable life experience to share. Young people, 18 to
30 years of age, mixed with professionals or retirees who might be as
old as 80, and all trained together before being broadcast about some
developing country to isolated spots in a totally foreign culture. It
was not something they all could handle. Being volunteers, they could
un-volunteer at any time, and many did. Some simply could not meet the
physical requirements or could not adjust to a different culture or the
lack of privacy."
"Through these experiences I came to believe that the dynamics of becoming engaged in an alien culture, and I include the rituals and traditions of the military as a culture alien to everyday Americans, is as valuable in one's education as a degree. Perhaps more so. "
"The ultimate benefit of both kinds of service is the production of citizens knowledgeable of the sacrifice and dedication of those who work to better the world or protect it from those who would bring about chaos and destruction. Neither route is safe. There is a long list of volunteers who died in service and a much longer list of those who died in the military. Today's American youth are famously regarded as soft, fat and self-centered. While there are many exceptions to that stereotype, a universal national-service requirement would go a long way in countering the trend."