Retired Marine Gen. James Jones told Newsmax Thursday that the U.S. should consider creating a universal national service program, arguing it would strengthen civic responsibility as military recruitment reaches its highest level in 15 years.
Appearing on "American Agenda," Jones, who was a national security adviser to former President Barack Obama, made the remarks when asked about the recent surge in recruiting across the five active-duty military services.
While praising the success of the volunteer military, Jones said the country could benefit from a system of national service that would give young Americans the option of serving their communities or the military.
"I believe that one of the things that we could remedy in this country is to have some sort of universal service where young men and women, whether it's at the local level or the state level or the federal level, can opt to join the military or serve somehow for the common good of the United States," he said.
Jones, who also served as commandant of the Marine Corps and NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe, suggested participants could receive educational incentives for completing a year of service.
"For that you could probably reward them with one year of free tuition at one of the universities in their home state," he said. "That would do a lot towards reducing the student debt."
He acknowledged, however, that the country is not currently prepared to adopt such a program.
"But we're not there yet," Jones said.
The retired general said the United States has benefited from maintaining an all-volunteer military but argued schools should do more to instill civic values and encourage public service.
"We've had a successful volunteer force, but I think that in our school systems, we're not teaching those values adequately enough," Jones said. "And that results in the schism that we see today."
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