If I had my way, non-commissioned military service would be requisite for holding political office. That is said only in half-jest.

There are so few ways to break our stratification any more. We grow up in pods, like peas. Advantaged or disadvantaged, rich, poor or middle class, we hunker down in our pod until harvest. When harvest comes, whether it be in terms of a bottom-rung job or in the shipping department of daddy’s business, we’re unaware of all the other peas in this grand country and know virtually nothing about their pod.

I would suggest a year of active military service, followed by three years of Reserve duty. Six months isn’t enough, two years too disrupting. Everyone would go after high-school or at 18, whichever comes first. No exemptions, except for extreme physical disability.

None.

The result, I would hope (and based upon my own experience), would be a more aware national experience and a shared investment in being American. Out of that might come a better realization of what it is we send ourselves off to do, militarily. Add to that a sense of our individual selves being connected to that world effort.

The depodification of America.