THE CIVILIAN ALTERNATIVE

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

In recent months there has been much discussion of the concept of universal national service. Secretary McNamara has suggested that a man might do his patriotic duty either through military service or through appropriate civilian work, such as that of the Peace Corps. Opponents of this idea have quite rightly objected that no civilian alternative to the armed forces demands the potential sacrifice of the soldier on the battlefield: his very life. But there is a simple and obvoius remedy for this defect. Each month the percentage of war deaths should be determined, and this proportion of men engaged in nonmilitary national service should be selected at random and shot. Paul R. Chernoff, 3G