The United States National Commission on Military, National and Public Service has called for a more universal idea of service that recruits Public Servants in some of the same ways as the military.
The Commission’s report said an increasing interest in Government jobs required creating a cohesive idea of service across all areas of international, Government and military roles.
The sweeping report on improving service in the United States, details changes to both Federal and military personnel practices, as well as better educating the public about the ways in which they could and should serve.
Commissioner, Steve Barney said the aim of the report was to elevate all forms of service, including that of Public Servants at the Federal, State, and local level.
The Commission recommended creating Public Service versions of the Reserve Officers Training Corps at universities that allowed students to receive financial benefits and additional training in return for a guarantee to work in a Government job after they received their degree.
It also encouraged military service academies to accept civilian enrolees alongside the students training to become military officers to create a cadre of highly-trained Public Servants ready to provide civilian support to the Department of Defence.
It said establishing a Public Service Corps alongside pure military programs and integrating a cohort of Public Service cadets at military service academies would “mitigate the growing civil-military divide among American youth and promote service more broadly”.
Chair of the Commission, Joseph Heck (pictured) gave the example of a young person interested in serving their country showing up at a military recruitment centre but found to be ineligible for military service.
“The recruiter should still be able to offer them information about serving in the Peace Corps or at a Government Agency,” Mr Heck said.
“Those individuals that do enter military, civilian or national service would then be made more aware of the pathways available to them to use their skills in another service area later down the road,” he said.
Washington, 22 May 2021
