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yewberry

(6,530 posts)
16. I did 2 years of national service, teaching in local Title I schools.
Fri Feb 15, 2013, 01:05 PM
Feb 2013

The medical care was minimal and it was incredibly difficult to use. I ended up paying for care out of pocket later rather than face a protracted court battle.

Worse, you can't live on the stipend. I worked 50 hours a week and the stipend was $900 a month. Most of the people on my team were on food stamps, and we all had to seek help at local food banks in order to eat. $900 a month in a city is a bad joke.

If we want to make national service viable, we need for people to be able to actually get by while they're doing it.

Sorry, but tying any sort of draft to the military in any sort of way is a mistake, MadHound Feb 2013 #1
The volunteer military has done that...big time.. SoCalDem Feb 2013 #2
How did that work in Vietnam? MadHound Feb 2013 #3
Except we learned that wasn't true in Vietnam, when we got rid of student deferments. pnwmom Feb 2013 #9
We need to pass the Equal Rights Amendment first. That's been on hold for a century, now. MADem Feb 2013 #4
Why not a national apprentice program? Or another long-term CCC effort? Earth_First Feb 2013 #5
That's precisely why I called it a National-service draft. SoCalDem Feb 2013 #6
I'm with you on the National Service Program Earth_First Feb 2013 #7
1 in 3 servicewomen experience sexual assault Small Accumulates Feb 2013 #8
Yes! This would be an insane way to take way of health care needs. pnwmom Feb 2013 #10
we would be careful about which wars to go into if all our kids had to go to war La Lioness Priyanka Feb 2013 #11
Other people's children is a sacrifice I'm willing to make... EastKYLiberal Feb 2013 #14
Except history doesn't bear that out. dairydog91 Feb 2013 #20
This message was self-deleted by its author EastKYLiberal Feb 2013 #12
Oh lord, here we go again. Javaman Feb 2013 #13
It would create a sense of we nadinbrzezinski Feb 2013 #15
Or, mass drafts can only occur where there is a pre-existing sense of intense nationalism. dairydog91 Feb 2013 #18
I did 2 years of national service, teaching in local Title I schools. yewberry Feb 2013 #16
We could do much the same by allowing Walmart to indenture the underprivileged HereSince1628 Feb 2013 #17
Why are so many people so keen on extracting involuntary labor from the young? JVS Feb 2013 #19
What part of "Wal-Mart Supply Chain" don't you understand? HereSince1628 Feb 2013 #21
Hmm...sounds a little familiar... jmg257 Feb 2013 #22
Latest Discussions»General Discussion»A national-service draft...»Reply #16