When running for the presidency the first time, Donald Trump was asked about the concept of national service. Instead of dismissing the concept out of hand, as you might expect, Trump called it “a beautiful thing.”
Now with a record military budget having passed Congress, maybe this is the time to divert some of that money for jets and drones to launch a national service program.
Stan McChrystal, the retired U.S. general, is on board with a national service model.
“What we need is a system of national service that goes beyond anything that exists today,” he said, referring to present offerings like the voluntary Americorps program. “Every young adult should be called to year-long service, whether as a tutor or mentor in one of our country’s 2.3 million classrooms, a conservation worker in one of the country’s national parks or wilderness areas, an aide to one of the 1.5 million Americans who require hospice care every year or in the numerous other areas of high unmet need,” said McChrystal.
McChrystal was part of a national service summit held in 2013 in Aspen, Colo. that proposed a plan that called for universal national service for every 18 to 28-year-old who had the option of serving in one of five branches of the military or a number of civilian service corps. The initial goal was to create positions for 1 million full-time civilian national service workers—nearly equal to the number of Americans who serve on active duty in the military each year.
With all the federal job cuts, including a major reduction in the workforce of the National Park Service, national service might be needed more than ever.