8/16/07 Yongsan, South
Korea / Whether it's through military service or another means, young Americans
should find some way to serve their country, the U.S. military's top officer
said here today.
"I do believe that each of us who has had the blessing of the
accident of birth of being born in a free country ought to find some way to
repay our country," Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, said during a town hall meeting at Collier Field House here.
"If we have a system that allowed people to join the Peace Corps or allowed
people to do good work inside the United States where it's needed, or join the
military," it would help the country.
Young people should give a year or two of their lives to making society better,
and U.S. leaders should take such a commitment seriously, Pace said. "We would
be a much stronger society, and we would be giving back to the world what we
should be giving back," he said.
The general also put to rest rumors about a possible U.S. military draft.
"Nobody in any leadership position is having any serious discussion about a
draft," he said.
