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Compulsory Public Service Requirement? Essay example

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“A successful life, by definition includes service to others” (The Bush School of Government and Public Service, 2013). For centuries the idea of serving one’s nation has been known as a noble calling. While several countries have utilized a compulsory military and/or public service obligation, the United States of America has maintained the notion that one should feel called / led to serve. Outside of the Selected Service, the U.S. has maintained an All-Volunteer Force. With the continued pressures from the decade long war(s) one could argue that the United States adopts a compulsory public service obligation. History of the United States Selective Service System (SSS) The draft first came into effect during the Civil War where …show more content…

Meanwhile as the military shrinks in size, the connections between military members and the broader civilian population appear to be growing more distant” (Miles, 2011). “75 percent of americans aged 17 to 24 cannot join the United States Military –26 million young Americans” (Mission Readiness, 2009, 1). Examples of Compulsory Military Service United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Civilan Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1933 as part of the New Deal. The CCC had a dual purpose: “putting people back to work to combat the Great Depression and preserving America’s natural resources” (Prauwels, 2013). CCC is known as “the most successful and least controversial example of the federal government mobilizing a large portion of the population to perform nonmilitary service” (Prauwels, 2013). CCC was combined programs from the Departments of Agriculture, Interior, Labor and War to serve in needed programs around the country (Prauwels, 2013). Young men were targeted for this service and nearly three million served from 1933 to 1942. Of these three million nearly eighty-four percent were “young, unmarried mend between the ages of 17 and 28” (Prauwels, 2013). The government provided “camp-stype” housing, food and clothing. The men spent their evening involved in teachings of crucial life lessons and academic programs; cornerstones of the CCC

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