Peace Corps and the Military

Wow, two posts in one day. I want to weigh in here on my views on the recent stuff about the military inducing people to sign up by telling the recruits that they can join the Peace Corps for the last two years of service. The fact that we are having this debate is absolutely crazy. The Peace Corps is well-respected throughout the world, and I think that it does in fact further the goals of the US government. And I think that there are certainly people in the military that would make good volunteers, but there are certain choices in life that make others not possible, and I really think that this is one of them.

While living in Uganda, I was told constantly that my entire security was based on my relationships that I built within my community, and it was most certainly true. If there was a problem and I needed to speak with the office, the first thing I needed to do was find a hill or really tall tree to climb to get a signal for my phone. Then it was a good 4-hour plus drive out to my place so long as everything went perfectly for the vehicle. This is important, since it is the situation of every volunteer. Now, we start letting active military (I am counting reserve duty as active here) serve in the Peace Corps. What will happen for people that want an excuse to harm volunteers? And when the volunteers are asked if there are any ties to the military or intelligence and they have to say "yes," what will happen? Or do we tell them to lie to their neighbors about the nature of the program? It will cast a shadow of doubt on everybody, and the end result will be volunteers being killed.

President Bush has made statements over and over through his terms in office about using the Peace Corps for this and that. We are going to send the Peace Corps to Afghanistan even though there is an active war going on because "everybody loves the Peace Corps." Or we are going to "start targeting Muslim countries with the Peace Corps to build understanding." Statements like these start to build the idea we are CIA, and making it official policy to allow people with ties to that establishment (or the military. I personally don't think any distinction will be made by people) in is insane.

I could write a lot more, but I think my basic feelings on this are pretty clear. I personally have already written my various representatives voicing my opinions on this topic. If you want to save Peace Corps, please do the same. I love the organization and do not want to see the harm come to it that this will cause.

Thanks everybody.

Here are some links on the topic:

An interview on MSNBC
From the Washington Post
There is a page on the Returned Peace Corps Volunteer website about this with links to further information