Off the Top of My Head

Serving in the Military a Lot More Lucrative Than the Peace Corps

by John Lawrence, March 7, 2018

Here are a some of the benefits of Peace Corps service:

• Deferment and Cancellation of Student Loans. ...
• Foreign Language Instruction. ...
• Graduate and Fellowship Opportunities. ...
• Expanded Career Opportunities. ...
• Pay and Living Expenses. ...
• Medical Benefits. ...
• Liberal Vacation Benefits. ...
• Readjustment Allowance.

Here are just a few benefits of serving in the military:

• Educational Benefits - GI Bill, Tuition Assistance, Servicemember Opportunity Colleges, Education on Duty, etc.
• Advanced Technical and Specialty Training
• Cash Bonuses
• Tax-Free Housing & Food Allowances, or Free Room & Board
• 30 Days of Vacation per Year
• Space A Travel - Free flights between bases
• Substantial discounts and deals throughout the private sector (link to Deals center)
• The pride and honor of serving your country
• World travel
• Health & Dental Care for you and your family
• Special deals on Home Loans (VA Loans link)
• Being part of a larger family with a proud history - the military tradition
• Pension

Why is it that military service is valued so much more than Peace Corps service? There is no pension for serving in the Peace Corps. After just 20 years in the military, you can receive over $20,000 for life. So if you went in just after high school you could retire at age 38 having received an education, free health care and a pension. Then you could work another 30 years at a second career. Here's the skinny:

Active duty military members can retire after 20 years of active duty military service. In exchange, they receive military retirement pay for life. How much retirement pay a member receives is based on years of service, and rank.

The military makes it easy to calculate ballpark breakdown of retirement pay using the online calculator found at the official Military Pay website.  Every member's retirement pay will differ to some degree due to their length of service and rank, however if you place in the calculator the retirement of an E-8 with twenty years, you will see that the retirement pay will be roughly $22,000 a year for just waking up in the morning.

However, if you spread that out for another 40 years of living, that military retirement pay has reached a million dollar retirement package.

 

So if you go into the military, the pay and benefits far outweigh those of participants in the Peace Corps. What's more you can go in the Coast Guard, see the world and be relatively safe from combat. The US is a militaristic nation intent on remaining a hegemon for as long as possible with about 1000 military bases ringing the world. It is not interested in peace. Defense contractors would lose lucrative contracts if peace broke out. They are salivating over the prospects of countering Russia's recently announced advanced missiles.

 

I would like to see an America in which service in the Peace Corps carried the same or greater benefits as service in the military. Then maybe, just maybe, we might see a more peaceful world.  But I'll say this: Going into the military right after high school and getting a free education, health care and pension benefits for life sure beats going to college and getting a ton of student loan debt.