September 18, 2005: Headlines: Military: Speaking Out: Miami Herald: Rick Miranda says: Military ties would hurt agency
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September 18, 2005: Headlines: Military: Speaking Out: Miami Herald: Rick Miranda says: Military ties would hurt agency
Rick Miranda says: Military ties would hurt agency
Colman McCarthy's Aug. 24 Other Views piece, Let soldiers join Peace Corps: McCarthy failed to raise one important issue -- perception
Rick Miranda says: Military ties would hurt agency
Military ties would hurt agency
Re Colman McCarthy's Aug. 24 Other Views piece, Let soldiers join Peace Corps: McCarthy failed to raise one important issue -- perception. He writes, ``If contamination is the fear, why not exclude all former soldiers who might want to join the Peace Corps? . . . What's the difference between accepting those recently out of the military and those still in?''
I served in the Peace Corps in Paraguay. Throughout my time there, I and many compatriots were suspected of being spies and/or foreign agents. This problem of perception has existed for a long time in many host countries.
As a result, there is a U.S. law that requires several years between serving in the Peace Corps and serving in intelligence agencies. It seeks to prevent putting volunteers' safety in jeopardy, while addressing host countries' concerns.
Were just one Peace Corps volunteer to be named as an intelligence operative -- correctly or incorrectly -- the program could be irreparably harmed in its ability to foster trust and understanding and complete its mission of improving others' lives.
McCarthy also insinuates that bringing together the military with the Peace Corps could increase funding for the Peace Corps. He writes, 'An alliance with the Pentagon could be an opportunity for Peace Corps supporters to shake the Pentagon's money tree and increase the Peace Corps' budget. Congress lavishes more than $1 billion a day on the military, which is almost five times more than what it gives the Peace Corps in a year.That's the real scandal. With more money, fewer qualified Peace Corps applicants would be turned away. Perhaps, with more slots, fewer people would be choosing the military in the first place.''
As much as I would have liked to have received more than $70 a month for living expenses, I didn't join the Peace Corps for the money; and the Peace Corps as a program certainly doesn't need to cozy up to the Pentagon for funding; the Corps goes to Congress. Second, Peace Corps fills positions identified by host countries. It is not trying to pump as many volunteers as it can into the field.
Finally, even if he is correct that Pentagon funding would open more slots, I disagree that more slots would lead to fewer people to choose the military. A look at who is joining the military and who is applying for the Peace Corps finds little overlap. I know of nobody who joined the military because there was not a slot for them in the Peace Corps.
The Peace Corps is bureaucratic enough. I cannot imagine what it would look like if it had to deal with military bureaucracy, too.
RICK MIRANDA, Salt Lake City, Utah
When this story was posted in September 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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| Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger When the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. |
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Story Source: Miami Herald
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Military; Speaking Out
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