Bait and Switch

In yet another questionable recruiting scheme, the military is now offering to let recruits fulfill part of their military obligations by serving in the Peace Corps. The program, proposed by John McCain and Evan Bayh, went into effect three years ago as part of 306-page defense budget bill, and—here’s the kicker—the Peace Corps didn’t even know about it until after it became law.

Big Problem #1: A big part of what protects the 7,733 Peace Corps workers spread across 73 countries is the clear delineation between the Peace Corps and the US military. Publicizing such an agreement between the two, particularly at a time when the US military is actively involved in a foreign occupation, could raise suspicions of existing Peace Corps workers, potentially putting them in danger.

Big Problem #2: There’s no guarantee that recruits who enlist with the promise of fulfilling part of their service obligation with the Peace Corps will actually be given that opportunity. The Peace Corps will require enlistees to apply to their program just like any other potential Corps volunteer. To put that into perspective, the Corps already receives three times the number of applications as they have open slots. Until the Republican-controlled Congress decides to provide more funding to the Corps, they cannot open their ranks to a greater number of volunteers. So basically, the military is using an unfunded program to try to attract new recruits, when they have just as slim a chance of getting into the Peace Corps as they would if they skipped military enlistment altogether and just applied to the Corps on their own.

Very, very dodgy stuff.

Tangentially, we have the case of the Bush Youth (hat tip Spontaneous Arising).

Before you tell me if I’m just getting wacky with the Nazi references, please note that I'm referencing the history of engaging youth as part of a strategy of permanent warfare, rather than a more general comparison, and also take a gander at the following image and read the following excerpt and see if you don’t feel a little bit of squishy discomfort deep down inside.

President George W. Bush delivered a pep talk on Sunday to thousands of Boy Scouts, urging them not to waver after four tragic deaths and a rash of heat-related illnesses* cast a pall over their camping "Jamboree."

[…]

Men in black "Army" T-shirts coached young boys to chant "OO-rah" like soldiers. A giant "ARMY" hot-air balloon bobbed overhead.

Bush said the Boy Scouts "understand that freedom must be defended," and touted what he called the "armies of liberation." The Army has fallen behind its recruiting goals amid the Iraq war.

"When you follow your conscience and the ideals you've sworn as a Scout, there is no limit to what you can achieve for our country," Bush told the crowd, which chanted "USA, USA."

The jamboree, which was held at the US Army’s Fort AP Hill, seems disturbingly close to an extremely early military recruitment rally to this old cynic.

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* Btw, in case you hadn’t heard, those “heat-related illnesses,” which affected over 300 Scouts, were caused by their waiting in the blazing sun for hours for the arrival of President Prick, who didn’t show up until four days later.)