WWYD?: What Will You Do?

This is not just a rhetorical question. I would like to have any and all types of comments from you, my readers.

Last week as I was reading the Fall 2005 National Peace Corps Association’s Worldview, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer quarterly journal, I was amazed to discover that military personnel will begin infiltrating the ranks of Peace Corps beginning in 2007.

To summarize, the article Not Our Corps discusses the Call to Service Act of 2001. This piece of legislation was introduced by Senators John McCain and Evan Bayh and became law in December 2002. The National Call to Service recruiting program will allow new military recruits the option to fulfill a part of their military obligation, which can be up to eight years, by serving in the Peace Corps and the AmeriCorps.

According to the article, “Peace Corps leadership said that they were not consulted when this legislation was passed.” Needless to say, this current Peace Corps Volunteer and many other Peace Corps Volunteers currently on the ground were rarely, if ever, informed of this legislation when applying to serve.

What’s wrong with this picture? For over 45 years, Peace Corps has maintained a staunch independent stance from the U.S. Military and its associated agencies. Look at a Peace Corps application and those applying who have worked for the CIA and the FBI are automatically excluded from the process. How are current military personnel any different?

My fears parallel those that the author Kevin F.F. Quigley states, “…[T]he linkage between Peace Corps and military recruitment will seriously affect four issues: the independent status of Peace Corps; host-country perceptions; Peace Corps’ selection and placement authority; and the health and safety of Peace Corps Volunteers.”

Alarmed as I am, I have already spoken to some close host-country nationals about this “news.” When I asked them what they would think if I were serving a part of my military service in Peace Corps, most said they would think I were here for reasons other than cultural exchange and development. You may not know it, but among the Peace Corps community here, we are obliged to stay away from any and all military activities and events, domestic or otherwise due to the already-present misconception that Peace Corps and the military are inter-connected.

Let me say that serving your country through military service is a very personal and noble act of any American citizen. Both of my parents and other members of my family served in the Army. My father was drafted at 18 years old and served about 13 years. My mom went into the Army for the benefits of the Montgomery G.I. Bill. The first in her family to go to college, she graduated when I was 6 years old. I was at her commencement, yeah Mom! There are also many retired military personnel who later go on to successfully serve in the Peace Corps.

Two distinctions must be stated by this current Peace Corps Volunteer. First, the difference between retired and newly-recruited military personnel is that the prior has already been discharged from their obligation. They are no longer military people connected directly to the military! Second, the difference between Peace Corps and AmeriCorps is that the latter is served on the home-front, without implicating and complicating other country’s domestic situations!

I am committed to service, civilian service. I was a very active member of my home community the years before entering the Peace Corps. I also served an AmeriCorps volunteer in 2002 in an education program. I successfully completed my 1700-hour term of service. Now, I am serving in Peace Corps as a way to continue my civilian service to people abroad. I currently have about one year left to finish my service.

In 2004, when I was doing my research on the Peace Corps, its benefits and the types of work done overseas, I now feel like all of the pertinent information to help me make an accurate and informed decision was not available to me. I feel like I have been lied to straight to my face because at my interview with a recruiter in mid-2004, I explicitly stated that I wanted to serve my country without joining the military. He did not inform me about this recruitment program. Maybe he himself did not know about it? But by May 2004, I highly doubt it and this fact disturbs me.

The blurring of the line between civilian and military is a very dangerous thing-to Peace Corps Volunteers in the field, host-country nationals, and their governments.

I am an American. I am also a currently serving Peace Corps Volunteer. Have no doubt, readers, I will be contacting my Senators and Congress People.

Please read up on this highly contested debate at www.rpcv.org or www.peacecorpsconnect.org. Over 7,000 volunteers worldwide and their host-country nationals need this issue to be addressed.

And remember: Peace Corps is NOT the War Corps.

And despite all of my worries, here is:

The-Read-What-I-Have-Read-Book-List!
The Temple of My Familiar: Alice Walker. I personally give this book the title of my favorite book of all time. After I read this sequel to The Color Purple, I listed in my journal about 20 different themes imbedded in it. Some of which include: food, poverty, humanity’s struggles, especially women’s, through the ages, re-incarnation, spirituality, therapy, activism, creation, etc.


UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!
George Bush withdrew Peace Corps from the National Call to Service Recruitment Initiative on 6 Jan. 2006! Read it on www.rpcv.org under News. This is what happens when I get a journal that's about 6 months out-of-date. But now, I am happy happy happy! Hope this dispells any angst you may have felt after reading the above. Have a great day. Peace. Chance.