The Peace Corps as an Offshore Strategy of Last Resort
The Peace Corps as an Offshore Strategy of Last Resort
written by A. L. Hart Havens on December 15, 2021
Devising and executing an offshore game plan usually requires some combination of international savvy, ample savings, marketable job skills, and a firm commitment to seeking out freedom, prosperity, and opportunity wherever it may exist in the world.
Although this may offer an abundance of options for successful entrepreneurs, well-to-do investors, and career-driven employees, it certainly does not cover the entire spectrum of individuals in western countries who understand that the dubious political, economic, and cultural trends in place are unlikely to end well for them.
With that in mind, this essay marks the first of a two-part series that will explore opportunities available to citizens of western countries who genuinely wish to leave their home country yet possess few financial resources, little or no formal education, and/or no particular business, investing, or job skills that would reasonably enable them to independently kickstart a new life abroad in a more desirable jurisdiction.
While this essay focuses specifically on opportunities for US citizens, a future article will cover offshore possibilities for citizens of the Anglosphere countries. The two ideas set out below — enlisting in the US military and joining the Peace Corps — should definitely be viewed as offshore strategies of last resort for Americans.
The US Military
In decades past, enlistment in or conscription into the US military was the only realistic international opportunity available to most Americans. For men who otherwise may never have ventured outside of their home state, the military provided an opportunity to travel the world and gain valuable exposure to foreign countries and cultures, albeit often as part of an invading or occupying force unwelcomed by the local population.
Given that recruits are not required to possess any financial resources, job skills, or education higher than a high school diploma (or equivalent), most young adults who are in reasonable physical shape would qualify to join the military. And after some basic training, opportunities for overseas deployment abound.
In fact, in a surprising departure from the government’s typical reluctance to reveal any specifics about the military’s international presence, Marine Corps general Joseph Dunford commented in a 2018 speech that more than 300,000 American military personnel are deployed across 177 of the world’s 193 countries.
With the US military operating in over 90% of the world’s countries, and some foreign affairs experts placing the real figure even higher, prospective recruits could indeed travel to virtually all ends of the earth in the service of the US military.
It light of recent events, however, it is notable that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan — now the official name of the country that has once again lived up to its Graveyard of Empires moniker — may soon join the ranks of a small handful of countries in the world lacking an official US military presence.
Furthermore, it has been reported that the new Taliban-led government has taken a hostile approach toward the administering of coronavirus vaccines in Afghanistan. If this proves to indeed be true, it would set the stage for some interesting and amusing Would You Rather questions among unvaccinated individuals, particularly as the unrelenting restrictions and mandates continue to intensify across the world.
Back in the United States, in view of the obvious risks to life and limb and the fact that unvaccinated military personnel are now faced with the threat of a dishonorable discharge, it can certainly be argued that enlistment in the US military is the worst conceivable offshore option.
However, for those who are undeterred by the aggressive vaccine mandates and the risk of dying in a distant land in the name of globalist-interventionist foreign policy objectives, it would be advisable for the sake of eased acclimatization to first get on board with the military’s rigorously enforced ultra-woke political agenda.
The Peace Corps
American citizens who would prefer to instead gain international experience in a civilian capacity could consider joining the Peace Corps, a humanitarian assistance initiative established in 1961 by then-president John F. Kennedy.
Initially aimed at promoting the image of the United States abroad as a champion of freedom and peace at the height of the Cold War, the Peace Corps today describes itself as “a service opportunity for motivated changemakers to immerse themselves in a community abroad, working side by side with local leaders to tackle the most pressing challenges of our generation.” Kennedy appointed his brother-in-law Sargent Shriver as the Peace Corps’ inaugural director.
As a quick aside, Shriver would later serve as the last-minute VP replacement on George McGovern’s 1972 Democratic presidential campaign ticket after it was revealed that McGovern’s original vice-presidential running mate pick, first-term Missouri senator Thomas Eagleton, had been concealing a long history of severe mental health problems that resulted in multiple hospitalizations and a repeated need for electroshock therapy. McGovern and Shriver would go on to lose the election to incumbent president Richard Nixon by an electoral vote count of 520 to 17.
Unlike the military, Peace Corps applicants must be US citizens and either hold a Bachelor’s degree or possess at least five years of relevant work or volunteer experience. The Peace Corps’ standard 27-month paid volunteer program, which primarily targets recent university graduates and retirees, typically does not require any particular skills, although applicants for postings are subjected to a competitive selection process. Surprisingly, the Canadian government does not offer an equivalent program.
Coincidentally, among the more-than 60 countries in which the Peace Corps currently operates are numerous jurisdictions that our clients have shown considerable interest in as prospective safe havens from the seemingly incurable ills of today’s western societies.
Latin America and Caribbean: Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Eastern Caribbean
Eastern Europe and Central Asia: Albania, Armenia, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan
Asia and Pacific Islands: Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu
Middle East and Africa: Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Comoros, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia
The Peace Corps offers six fields of work for volunteers to choose from — agriculture, community economic development, education, environment, health, and youth in development. While some of the programs are clearly aimed at furthering distinctly left-wing objectives, others such as teaching math and organizing off-grid farming would likely provide for a much more rewarding experience.
At any rate, the Peace Corps is certainly not viewed as an organization that is friendly to libertarian or socially conservative worldviews, although the US military may be even worse in that regard nowadays.
It is also worth pointing out that enlistment in the Peace Corps is not a financially rewarding endeavor. This is evidenced by the following points on the program’s benefits taken directly from the organization’s website.
· The Peace Corps provides each Volunteer with housing and a living stipend that enables them to live in a manner similar to people in their community of service. Unlike other international volunteer programs, there is no charge to participate in the Peace Corps.
· The Peace Corps covers the cost of transportation to and from the country of service. Each Volunteer receives two paid vacation days per month of service, and many use this time to travel to nearby countries.
· The Peace Corps provides medical and dental care that covers all related expenses during service, including preventative care, and issues incurred during your training period, service, or on vacation. In the case of a health problem that cannot be treated in your host country, you will be sent to a nearby country or the U.S. at no cost to you.
· Upon completion of two years of service, the Peace Corps provides each Volunteer with more than $10,000 (pre-tax) to help with the transition to life back home. This money is yours to use as you wish.
· The Peace Corps offers career support specifically tailored to Volunteers when they return home to help them prepare for their next step, including advantages in federal employment and hiring benefits related to noncompetitive eligibility.
Given the Peace Corps’ eagerness to promote the valuable skills gained by volunteers during their 27 months of service, it is interesting that former volunteers typically display little interest in applying these newly-acquired proficiencies in a private-sector setting. Instead, they are in great measure drawn to the preferential hiring in federal government and other public sector employment that is afforded to Peace Corps graduates.
In the wake of the initial coronavirus hysteria, the Peace Corps effectively ceased operations when it suspended all programs and evacuated its 7,000 volunteers back to the United States in March 2020. The organization then began recruiting returned volunteers in March 2021 to serve domestically for the purpose of providing assistance to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in operating coronavirus vaccination centers across the United States.
After a nearly two-year hiatus from its primary activities, the Peace Corps has finally begun accepting applications again. However, the organization has still yet to resume sending volunteers abroad and it is currently unclear whether this will occur in the foreseeable future. Unsurprisingly, future Peace Corps volunteers will be required to prove that they are fully vaccinated as defined by the CDC before deploying to their posts abroad.
In conclusion, the Peace Corps offers a unique opportunity for volunteers to master foreign languages and discover off-the-radar jurisdictions abroad while working for the US government in a civilian capacity. In spite of this, the aforementioned drawbacks would certainly seem to make this offshore option an unappealing one — even for those Americans most desperate to escape the looming economic and social turmoil set to engulf the United States.