More political wet dreams.

"We will ask Americans to serve. We will create new opportunities for Americans to serve. And we will direct that service to our most pressing national challenges." (CNN)

As someone who spends a lot of my own time volunteering, I have to ask both candidates if they have looked at the issue seriously. You cannot force someone to volunteer. It actually defeats the purpose. Volunteer spirit has to come from inside the individual and the organization they are volunteering with has to be something they believe in. Otherwise, you are wasting time and money.

He also mentions easing the burden on the troops. Sounds like a veiled call to mandatory service if I was a cynic. What burden is it we are easing again? There are already billions of dollars being poured into the coffers of the Department of Defense for easing their burdens, so I am sort of at a loss for what more can be done. If your military is all volunteer and people do not want to volunteer, you have only two options. Except the limitations a smaller force puts on you or jettison the notion that it is all volunteer. There really are not any more choices.

In urban areas especially, as I have said numerous times, there is so little time left to individuals that something will suffer if they volunteer too much. Further, most volunteer groups will not accept you if you are not over 18, making many legitimate and earnest individuals ineligible to volunteer. I will keep watching this issue because I suspect, like many things, I am not as cynical as I sometimes lead myself to believe.