[speaker001:] Okay. Go ahead.
[speaker002:] Uh, well, you know, uh, I think public service is a worthy thing and as a matter of fact there are a lot of programs, uh, such as Peace Corps that promote that.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh [faint].
[speaker002:] Probably the most popular one but, uh, one that is not typically recognized as such is the Boy Scouts.
[speaker001:] Huh [faint].
[speaker002:] Uh, I know that f-, because my son is a, a scout now and, uh, is thinking about his Eagle and, uh, in order to get Eagle, you have to have merit badges in, uh, citizenship in the community
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] citizenship in the nation, citizenship in the world and you have to do a public service project.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Uh, in which leadership is the key element. I, uh, [pause] [lipsmack] I think the question is posed somewhat strangely because, uh, it's talking about a requirement for
[speaker001:] Uh-huh [very faint].
[speaker002:] public service and, of course, Pe-, the Peace Corps, the Boy Scouts is a, o-, is a voluntary activity.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] Uh,
[speaker001:] I, I think that might be talking, referring to, uh, something, kind of, uh, alternative to the draft, you know. Either you have, uh, military service or some sort of alternative, nonmilitary service for a few years.
[speaker002:] Right, of course, uh, uh, military service falls under the category, uh, of a public service.
[speaker001:] Right, right.
[speaker002:] And, so, uh, one of the things that would fulfill the, at least the nominal, uh, qualifications set forth in the charge is military service or draft.
[speaker001:] Huh. Right, right.
[speaker002:] Uh, but I agree with you, that probably is not what was comprehended. There are other
[speaker001:] Well, i-,
[speaker002:] things such as civil service
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] uh, which many people, uh, are lifelong employees of
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] but I suspect that was not what they had in mind either. More
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] of a voluntary kind of thing or, uh,
[speaker001:] Yeah, yeah i-, i-, for, for years there has been an idea batted around of having some sort of alternative, uh, public service for, uh, young people to go into, uh, after high school.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Uh, kind of in lieu of the draft for, for people who don't, uh, who, you know, are conscientious objectors or don't otherwise want e-, e-, to be in the military, you know. Say, okay, well you can go into the military or you can do this other thing for one or two years to kind of serve the community and, and learn about things. And i-, it's interesting because I, I'm not a particular fan of the military but I have seen a lot of people, a lot of young guys go in that don't have really a clue as to what they want to do with their lives and aren't terribly disciplined, you know, even just personal discipline about what they want to do and they come out and they, they at least have, now they have at least some marginally marketable skills and more discipline. And they have, uh, you know, in, in some cases they have a greater self-esteem because they can say, they can see that, you know, if I do something or sub-, submit my own will to the will of the sargent or whatever, at least for a short period of time, I can accomplish a lot and it, it's a good lesson for a lot of young men to learn. That they don't need to be, you know, cowboys. They don't need to be out there and, uh, you know, constantly flaunting their ego to get things accomplished.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] And, you know, for some, for some young men, that's good. For me, it would have been lousy i-, idea, uh, because
[speaker002:] Why?
[speaker001:] I, I did have th-, the personal discipline. And I went
[speaker002:] Why is that?
[speaker001:] to college for four years and got out, you know, so. But, uh, you know, for some people that's good. I, I don't particular like the fact that it's the military, you know, and the whole point of the military is to kill people essentially. As, as an instrument of U S policy.
[speaker002:] Oh, no, no, no. It's to defend the nation against external evils.
[speaker001:] [Snorting] Well, that's one view [LAUGHTER]. And, and, you know, and that, that's another debate. But, uh, it's, uh,
[speaker002:] Well, it depends on whether you, whether we figure that we have that we have a defense oriented military or
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] an aggressive, aggression oriented military.
[speaker001:] Right, right [faint] and, well, it's, it, it seems pretty aggre-, aggressive oriented, I mean, you, you look at the last mis-, military action which was in the Persian Gulf and wasn't anywhere near the United States and it was, uh, you know, it was definitely a projection of U S power on the other side of the globe, so, at, at any rate, this is getting off the topic but i-, my, my point was that there is, for people who don't want to do the military service, there, it would be neat if there were an alternative that could instill the same sort of personal discipline and sense of purpose and, uh, sense of community that the Boy Scouts,