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HR 748: Require All Young Americans to Enlist in a National Service Program

Susanne Posel
Occupy Corporatism
February 22, 2013





Earlier this week, House Representative Charles Rangel has introduced HR 748 that will “require all persons in the United States between the ages of 18 and 25 to perform national service, either as a member of the uniformed services or as civilian service in a Federal, State, or local government program or with a community-based agency or community-based entity, to authorize the induction of persons in the uniformed services during wartime to meet end-strength requirements of the uniformed services, to provide for the registration of women under the Military Selective Service Act, and for other purposes.”

HR 748 has been brought forth to the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) are instrumental in the implementation of the annual defense authorization bill; as well as the functionality of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Energy (DoE).

Mainstream propaganda supports the idea of national service by admonishing Americans that if our Constitutional Republic is to survive we need to give our consent to the government to govern us and actively participate in our freedom in order to remain free.

The connotation is the “diversity seems to breed distrust and disengagement” which is the antithesis of a communal foundation. The answer “is universal national service . . . that is in our enlightened self-interest as a nation.”

By devoting “a year or more to national service, whether military or civilian, should become a countrywide rite of passage, the common expectation and widespread experience of virtually every young American.” In this way, every American “can harness the spirit of volunteerism that already exists and make it a permanent part of American culture.”

Senator John McCain supports the idea of national service. McCain explains: “National service is an issue that has been largely identified with the Democratic Party and the left of the political spectrum. That is unfortunate, because duty, honor and country are values that transcend ideology…National service is a crucial means of making our patriotism real, to the benefit of both ourselves and our country.”

National service could be implemented with a 10-point plan that would include:

A federal government investment of funds to every American born that could be collected after a year of national military service.

Presidential oversight of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) to make sure all Americans participate by the year 2016.

Expansion of national-service programs in public schools to coerce younger generations to serve their country as a part of national patriotism.
Create an Education Corps to oversee public schools and encourage national service.

Devise a Summer of Service program to engage youth to participate in national service events and keep them nationalized.

Enroll all participants in a government-sponsored health insurance program to assist healthcare professionals and caseworkers in servicing communities.

Revive FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) under a Green Corps (GC) initiative to improve infrastructure and combat climate change as a national issue.

Create a Rapid-Response Corps to assist the National Guard during disasters regarding preparedness and emergencies. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) could oversee this endeavor.

Create a National-Service Academy that would educate American youth on federalist ideals with a focus on expanding the philosophy that national service to a nation is necessary for its continuation.

The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act of 2009 (EKSAA) is the stratagem that is the basis of volunteerism that is government mandated. When Obama signed the EKSAA, he expected Americans to take communitarianism to heart and act accordingly. Obama said: “We need your service, right now, at this moment in history. . . I’m asking you to stand up and play your part. I’m asking you to help change history’s course. Put your shoulder up against the wheel. And if you do, I promise you – your life will be richer, our country will be stronger, and someday, years from now, you may remember it as the moment when your own story and the American story converged, when they came together, and we met the challenges of our new century.”

This initiative employs citizen battalions of government trained Americans, ages 18 – 24, to serve with the federal government in a new generation of emergency managers.

In 2009, President Obama said that: “We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”

Intimating that the internal affairs of the US necessitate a civilian army because America’s security was threatened from within harkens to dictators of the past that created their own youth groups of trained citizens that were brainwashed into believing that continuity of government supersede basic adherence to fundamental human rights, i.e. Hitler’s Youth Group.



In developing a civilian corps, the US government created the Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) that take neighborhood watches and regular citizens and turn them into basic responders to disaster scenarios with workshops and training exercises.

This concept was beta-tested by the Los Angeles City Fire Department (LAFD) in 1985. After the Whittier Narrows earthquake in 1987, the LAFD decided to train citizens and government employees in disaster response training. FEMA and other agencies of the US government have taken this concept into their own hands by creating a federalized and state-controlled version to set clear priories and dispense responders in any given disaster situation.

Under CERT, citizens are trained and approved by FEMA to access the resources of any given community, partner with local law enforcement, recruit participants and infiltrate community groups to further indoctrinate the public as to knowing specifically how the federal government wants Americans to respond during a disaster.

Last year FEMA Corps released 231 graduates that were trained by CNCS to conduct community relations and Disaster Recovery Center Support in cities all across the nation.

These graduates were educated on how to utilize local communities for the sake of public-private partnerships to rework the structure of those communities to serve the needs of the federal government. By implanting pro-government propaganda, using rural resources for the benefit of private sector corporations under the guise of “fostering civic engagement”, the CNCS revisions the American landscape to reflect their agendas as directed by the US government.

Posted by Susanne Posel on February 23, 2013. Filed under Propaganda. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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Designing a National Service Academy1
by Professor James R. Holbrook2
What is a National Service Academy?
CAPT Wayne Porter,3
the co-author of the National Strategic Narrative,
4
conceived the idea of a
National Service Academy (NSA) as an institution of higher learning dedicated to educating and
preparing military veterans for continued national service following their separation from the
military. The NSA is the subject of an op-ed piece in The Washington Times, entitled “Putting
Our Veterans Back to Work – The Case for a National Service Academy” which was written by
CAPT Porter and Hiram Chodosh.5
CAPT Porter’s initial conception of the NSA was as a single, national, civilian, stand-alone
service academy similar to our nation’s military academies. Because it is unlikely that Congress
will create and fund such an institution any time soon, and because of the ever-increasing
number of veterans who are separating from military service, the National Center for Veterans
Studies6
(NCVS) at the University of Utah in 2010 launched a National Service Academy Pilot
Project (NSA PP). As part of the NSA PP, Professor James Holbrook at the University of Utah’s
S.J. Quinney College of Law7
taught a seminar in 2010 about designing a NSA. Professor
Holbrook’s NSA Seminar created the following template for national service academies that can
be located at colleges and universities across the country.
Why do we need National Service Academies?
As Chair of Systemic Strategy and Complexity at the Naval Postgraduate School, CAPT Porter
is developing a Masters of Public Administration degree program in Strategic and Operational
Planning (MPA Program) for veterans and employees of federal inter-agency departments. The
MPA Program will focus on collaborative, systemic problem solving in a complex strategic
1
http://nationalstrategicnarrative.org/read/articles/
2
James Holbrook is a clinical professor of law at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law in Salt Lake
City where he teaches courses on arbitration, negotiation, and mediation, plus a seminar about designing a National
Service Academy. He fought in combat with the 9
th Infantry Division in Vietnam in 1969. His commitment to our
country’s young veterans today is motivated by the motto of the Vietnam Veterans Association: “Never again shall
one generation of veterans abandon another.” He is a member of the NCVS Advisory Board.
3 CAPT Wayne Porter, USN, served as a Special Assistant for Strategy to ADM Mike Mullen, the former Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs. CAPT Porter is now Chair of Systemic Strategy and Complexity at the Naval Postgraduate
School in Monterey, California.
4
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/A%20National%20Strategic%20Narrative.pdf
5
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/30/putting-our-veterans-back-to-work/
6
http://www.veterans.utah.edu/about.html
7
http://www.law.utah.edu/2
environment. The objective of the MPA Program is to begin to transition the burden of
reconstruction and stabilization, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and countering the
effects of transnational crime from the U.S. military (where it has been centered for the last two
decades) to U.S. Government inter-agency departments whose competencies are better suited to
this purpose. This critically important objective also can be supported by civilian national service
academies located at colleges and universities, as described below.
In addition, our nation’s military veterans are a proven corps of mature, service-oriented, and
talented professionals, many of whom will pursue civilian opportunities to serve their nation
again doing meaningful work in the public and private sectors. The NSA Seminar views veterans
as a valuable national resource willing and able to prepare through higher education to continue
to contribute to “smart growth” at home and “smart power” abroad.
There are nearly a thousand student veterans enrolled at the University of Utah and more are
expected as the war in Afghanistan winds down and the number of Army and Marine brigades
decreases. These student veterans receive the same high-quality education and degrees as every
other student at the University, while at the same time they address unique issues of reintegration
from military into civilian life. The University’s Veterans Support Center8
helps student veterans
deal with the academic, personal, and family-related challenges that many veterans face when
they separate from service (Reintegration Issues), including GI Bill education-benefit problems,
academic and career counseling, tutoring and remedial education, classroom and learning-needs
accommodations, PTSD, traumatic brain injuries (TBI), depression, service-related disabilities,
substance abuse, suicidal ideation, family and relationship communication difficulties, and anger
management issues.
What is the mission of a National Service Academy?
The mission of a NSA is to:
recognize, acknowledge, and build on our veterans’ valuable military training and service
experience;
recruit veterans into higher education as undergraduate and graduate students;
support student veterans’ reintegration from “combat to campus;”
assist student veterans with mitigation of psychological health issues, physical
disabilities, and family reintegration needs;
8
http://veteranscenter.utah.edu/3
assist female student veterans with mitigation of their unique psychological health issues,
e.g., issues caused by sexual trauma experienced during military service; and
prepare student-veteran graduates for and help place them in meaningful employment in
the public and private sectors, including for continued national service at home and
abroad, if they so choose.
The NSA Seminar concluded that a NSA should recruit veterans (but should not be limited just
to veterans) through a staffed office and dedicated website (NSA portal). The NSA Seminar
analogized the NSA portal to the Honors College9
at the University of Utah. Once admitted
through a NSA portal to a college or university (Host School), a student veteran can pursue any
undergraduate or graduate degree awarded by the Host School. Student veterans also take several
core courses together in subjects related to core competencies determined by the NSA (e.g., in
conflict resolution, strategic planning, and project management). Their work together helps them
support their Reintegration Issues and provides them with an academically-relevant,
professionally-useful, collaborative, and interdisciplinary educational experience. In addition to
the academic degree awarded by the Host School, a NSA graduate receives recognition as a NSA
Fellow, as well as employment counseling and placement assistance with public and private
sector employers upon graduation.
How does a National Service Academy recruit veterans?
The Host School’s NSA portal is responsible for marketing the NSA primarily on the Internet to
veterans and to active duty military, Reserve, and National Guard personnel. The NSA portal
must be able to provide accurate and useful information about:
“triaging” veteran student applicants into those to be admitted into the Host School, those
to be referred to local community colleges, and those to be referred to local vocational
education programs;
whether the Host School awards academic credit for military education, training, or
experience and, if so, how much;
whether the Host School provides courses online and, if so, how students’ online
performance is evaluated; and
9
http://honors.utah.edu/4
what happens (e.g., is tuition refunded?) if an active duty military, Reserve, or National
Guard student is deployed part way through a semester while enrolled at the Host School.
The NSA Seminar identified several veterans’ pre-admission concerns. Many military service
members will need to apply to the Host School before they separate from service and while they
are still deployed. Because they are deployed, they may not be able to plan as far ahead as
civilian applicants. Application deadlines may be difficult to meet. Recommendation letters may
be difficult to obtain. Some application documents (e.g., high school transcripts) may be difficult
to obtain. High school test scores and GPAs from the past may not reflect their current maturity
or their potential to be successful students today.
To address veterans’ pre-admission concerns, the NSA Seminar recommended that Host
Schools:
 waive or relax application deadlines for service members who are deployed overseas;
 develop a user-friendly NSA website that answers veterans’ frequently asked questions;
 waive application fees for all veterans;
 allow veterans to complete the entire application process online; and
 consider using unique admission-evaluation criteria for veterans, e.g., by obtaining
relevant information about them in recommendation letters from commanders.
The NSA Seminar identified, but did not attempt to quantify, the funding requirements for
staffing the NSA portal, recruiting veterans, assisting their reintegration, counseling and tutoring
them academically, teaching the NSA core courses, and placing student-veteran graduates in
meaningful employment. The NSA Seminar recommended that Host Schools should liberally
award academic credit for formal military education. The NSA Seminar recommended that
public Host Schools should charge student veterans at the in-state tuition rate (which may require
state legislative action).
The NSA Seminar did not identify viable ongoing funding sources for a NSA. Ideally, adequate
federal funds should be appropriated by Congress and distributed to Host Schools either through
the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (USDVA) or the U.S. Department of Education. The
NSA Seminar predicted that federal investment in the higher education of military veterans
through NSAs in Host Schools will increase veterans’ earning power, generate lifetime tax
revenues greater than the cost of the federal investment in NSAs, and help mitigate the
symptoms and cost of care of Reintegration Issues such as PTSD. 5
What infrastructure is necessary at a Host School to support a National Service Academy?
The NSA Seminar determined that necessary infrastructure must exist at the Host School to
ensure the successful operation of a NSA. The Host School must be a “veteran-friendly”
institution and have a “veteran-friendly” campus. The Host School’s NSA portal must be userfriendly and staffed by people who are knowledgeable about military service and veterans’
Reintegration Issues. The Host School must have a robust student-veterans support center
(Veterans Support Center) which is responsible for the following services to student veterans:
The Veterans Support Center is a “one-stop shop” for student veterans to help them “find
their fit” in the Host School and help them find and achieve their academic goals.
The Veterans Support Center has a “veteran-centric” staff who understands student
veterans and their Reintegration Issues, asks what they want, helps them get what they
need, and supports them and their families.
The Veterans Support Center is a comfortable and convenient place for student veterans
to hang out and network with other student veterans.
The Veterans Support Center either provides or coordinates Host School services in
veterans’ education benefits (including benefits through the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the
Yellow Ribbon program for tuition-differential payments), veterans’ housing on and off
campus, academic counseling, tutoring for student veterans who need remedial
assistance, and on-campus psychological counseling.
The Veterans Support Center either provides or coordinates access to expertise for
support of student veterans who are physically disabled or psychologically injured,
including for female veteran students who experienced sexual trauma while serving in the
military.
Because some NSA students may be active-duty military personnel or serving in the
National Guard or Reserves, they may be subject to activation, call-up, and deployment
while they are enrolled at the Host School. Therefore, the Veterans Support Center
should provide pre-deployment support, deployment communications, and postdeployment assistance to them and their families. Unique deployment issues include how
a student veteran can complete enrolled courses and take exams (e.g., take exams online),
or else be permitted to withdraw from enrolled courses and have tuition refunded.6
The Veterans Support Center should provide referrals to local private psychological and
family counseling services and to legal-support programs, such as a veterans’ legal clinic,
pro bono legal assistance, or a veterans’ court.
The Veterans Support Center must have a close working relationship with the Host
School’s admissions office, financial aid office, registrar’s office, student housing office,
on-campus student-veterans’ organizations, ROTC programs, and on-campus counseling
services.
The Veterans Support Center provides information to faculty members and staff
employees at the Host School about military service, the service experiences of student
veterans, and their Reintegration Issues, so that faculty members and staff employees
understand that student veterans are very different from typical young college students
who have never served in the military and, therefore, may need to be treated differently.
The Veterans Support Center coordinates support for student veterans obtained from the
nearest USDVA Center and its programs for: psychological counseling and therapy
including treatment for PTSD, substance abuse, depression, suicidal ideation, anger
management, and sexual trauma; therapy and rehabilitation for TBI and other servicerelated disabilities; and family counseling.
The Veterans Support Center should have a close working relationship with Transition
Assistance Program offices at nearby military bases, national veterans support
organizations (such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization), the U.S. Department
of Labor’s Veterans Employment and Training Service, nearby community colleges (e.g.,
for referral of veterans who are not yet ready for higher education at the Host School),
and local vocational education programs (e.g., for referral of veterans who just want
training in a skilled trade).
Student veterans have very little in common with typical 18-year-old freshmen students.
Therefore, the Veterans Support Center should provide an orientation program for
entering student veterans which is separate from or at least supplemental to the
orientation program provided by the Host School to entering students who are not
veterans.
The Veterans Support Center should provide student veterans with on-campus student
mentors and arrange for community mentors (e.g., Vietnam-era alumni veterans).7
What core competencies are relevant for continued national service?
The NSA Seminar identified core competencies needed by public, private, and NGO employers
that are relevant to continued national service at home and abroad. A NSA should encourage
student veterans who are interested in continued national service to develop these core
competencies while they are enrolled at the Host School:
1. Independent thinking and moral courage
2. Understanding the nature of “wicked problems”
3. Strategic planning and decision making
4. Planning and implementing complex operations
5. Risk communication
6. Conflict communication and dispute resolution
7. Rule-of-Law (ROL) issues and ROL assistance and training, including about:
a. Individual rights
b. Political and civil rights
c. Religious rights
d. Ethnic and racial minority rights
e. Personal status rights (e.g., as determined by application of Shi’a, Sunni,
Christian, or Jewish family laws, etc.)
f. Women’s rights
g. Refugee rights
h. LGBT rights
8. Property rights, including about:
a. Private property ownership and recorded titles
b. Real estate mortgages
c. Banking, lending, checking accounts, credit cards, etc.
d. Contractual rights
e. Foreign ownership rights for real property
f. Intellectual property rights
g. Enforcement mechanisms for property rights violations
h. Dispute resolution mechanisms for property rights disputes
i. International commercial arbitration and mediation
9. Criminal and civil procedure
10. Courts and judges, including:
a. Judicial education and training
b. Judicial compensation
c. Anti-corruption measures and enforcement mechanisms
d. Judicial independence
e. Specialized courts for enforcement of international commercial arbitral awards8
11. Intercultural team building
12. Education and teaching
13. Economic development
14. Local infrastructure development (e.g., of clean water, sewers and sewage disposal,
electricity generation, roads, mass transportation, railroads, airports, health care
institutions, schools, etc.)
15. Anti-corruption international treaties, national laws, public education, and enforcement
mechanisms
16. Foreign-assistance program funders, including the U.S. Department of State, the U.S.
Agency for International Development, and other U.S. inter-agency departments; the
United Nations Development Programme and other UN agencies; the European
Commission; the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank; NGOs; private
foundations; and multi-national corporations
17. Knowledge of U.S. foreign assistance provided through federal inter-agency departments,
including knowledge about:
a. Government contracting
b. Grant writing
c. Grant and contract compliance and reporting requirements
d. Effective use of translators, interpreters, and host-country and third-party-national
employees
e. U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act requirements
f. Personal security issues (e.g., avoidance of terrorist bombings, kidnappings for
ransom, criminal violence, etc.)
g. Force protection policies and measures
h. Training host-country military and police
i. Training host-country criminal investigators, prosecutors, and judges
j. Training about operating jails and prisons
k. Training about voting laws, political parties, electoral finance, elections, and the
investigation and resolution of electoral disputes
l. Host-country travel, visa, and badging issues
m. Life support assistance (e.g., for water, electricity, food, lodging, personal
security, telephone communications, Internet access, local transportation, etc.)
n. Policies and regulations about payment of government-authorized overhead,
compensation, healthcare, insurance, and travel expenses
o. Accurate useful information about host countries (e.g., CIA country fact-books)
p. Effective military/civilian interface in conflict and post-conflict host countries
q. U.S. foreign policy and diplomacy issues, and the role of U.S. embassies
r. Foreign language competence, especially in national security-related languages
(e.g., Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Hebrew, Korean, Pashto, etc.)
s. Familiarity with local cultures and customs in host countries9
The NSA Seminar recommended that a NSA should conduct a survey of courses offered by the
Host School and identify existing courses that are relevant to developing these core
competencies. The NSA Seminar identified over 400 courses offered at the University of Utah
that are relevant to developing core competencies for continued national service (e.g., the NSA
Seminar identified 24 such courses offered by the University’s Geography Department). A NSA
should encourage student veterans to elect to take core-competency-related courses offered by
the Host School, in addition to relevant summer short-courses and internships (at home and
abroad).
Why and how should a National Service Academy help student veterans find employment?
The NSA Seminar determined that employment counseling and placement are crucial for the
success of a NSA. Veterans are unlikely to apply to or complete their graduation requirements at
a Host School which does not help them find meaningful employment upon graduation. A NSA
should ascertain the skill sets needed by specific public, private, and NGO employers. A NSA
should help student veterans “translate” their military skills and experience into marketable
civilian skills (similar to the Army’s ACAP program10). A NSA should cultivate relationships
with specific public, private, and NGO employers and arrange for summer internships and oncampus interviews conducted by them.
A NSA should provide student veterans with placement assistance concerning:
writing effective, targeted resumes;
providing relevant information about specific public, private, and NGO employers;
reviewing and editing personal statements and correspondence to prospective employers;
arranging on-campus interviews with prospective employers; and
coaching and practicing a student veteran’s interviewing skills.
10 http://www.acap.army.mil/veterans/veterans.cfm10
Conclusion
Many veterans want to continue serving our country through civilian employment in the public
and private sectors. Well-designed, sufficiently-funded, and competently-administered NSAs
will recruit these veterans into Host Schools, support them in their Reintegration Issues, ensure
they achieve their higher education goals, and assist them in finding meaningful employment
upon graduation. A grateful nation will thereby develop veterans as our valuable national
resource for “smart growth” at home and “smart power” abroad.

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Civilian Conservation Corps
Preserving America's Natural Resources
1933-1942

America was in the grip of the Great Depression when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated in March of 1933.  More than twenty-five percent of the population was unemployed, hungry and without hope.  The New Deal Programs instituted bold changes in the federal government that energized the economy and created an equilibrium that helped to bolster the needs of citizens.  
Out of the economic chaos emerged the civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  It goal was two folde:  conservation of our natural resources and the salvage of our young men.  The CCC is recognized as the single greatest conservation program in America and it served as a catalyst to develop the very tenets of modern conservation.  The work of America's young men dramatically changed the future and today we still enjoy a legacy of natural resource treasures that dot the American landscape     

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Service That Provides a Powerful Return on the Investment

The end results of national service tell stories that reveal the benefits for the people involved with the service as well as the communities reached.

CNCS is a critical partner to communities facing natural disasters, providing trained volunteers to assist in feeding and shelter operations, home repairs, environmental cleanup, needs assessments, client casework, and long-term recovery. Since Hurricane Katrina, CNCS participants have contributed more than 10 million hours of service, managed 650,000 volunteers, assisted 3 million people, completed 55,000 damage assessments, refurbished 10,500 homes, constructed 2,000 new homes, served 1.6 million meals, and distributed 6,000 tons of food.
Young or low-income adults face the toughest prospects for employment, and national service offers a path forward by providing valuable work experience, career skills, and educational support. By helping at-risk youth graduate, go to college, and find productive employment, national service saves taxpayer dollars that may otherwise have to be spent on prisons, rehabilitation, and other social services.
To be competitive in a global economy, more Americans need to complete college or post-secondary education. More than 600,000 Americans have earned Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards to help pay for college in exchange for serving their country. By taking personal responsibility, they are earning educational opportunity.
National service is a powerful catalyst and force-multiplier for community volunteering. Last year, CNCS programs mobilized and managed more than 3 million community volunteers. For example, AmeriCorps members serving with Habitat for Humanity have engaged more than 1 million volunteers to build more than 10,000 Habitat homes throughout the United States since 1994.