WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., announced a plan to establish a "Civilian Stability Corps" of volunteers to work in post-conflict areas worldwide.
The plan was unveiled in a speech in Washington as part of a proposed sweeping overhaul of the U.S. military, offered one day after Kerry secured the Democratic presidential nomination with a sweeping win in the Illinois primary.
The program would help the overburdened military, Kerry said, by taking advantage of the "vast, untapped reserve of citizens who are capable and, I believe, willing to make their contribution to the national security."
It would "marshal their skills and experience and service to America and to the world," Kerry said, enlisting them in a reserve organization of volunteers who, like military reservists, would have peacetime jobs but could be called on in times of national need to "restore roads, renovate schools, open hospitals, repair power systems, draft a constitution, build a police force.
"A Civilian Stability Corps can bring the best of America to the worst of the world and simultaneously reduce the pressure on our military today," he said.
