Discussion: the Future of National Service

Maj. Gen. John Borling, USAF (ret.), will lead a conversation on the future of national service in the United States.

Borling, a 1962 Augustana College alumnus and veteran of the Vietnam War, is convening a national conversation under the auspices of SOS (Service Over Self) America, an organization he helped to establish and now leads.

SOS America has proposed establishing a United States Military Service Corps which would recruit young adults for a one-year specialized enlistment with the Armed Services, National Guard and Reserve, and other federal and state agencies as needed. 

After being shot down over North Vietnam, Capt. John Borling was held for 6½ years as a prisoner of war in Hanoi. During his captivity, which coincided with that of the late Sen. John McCain, Borling helped devise a code of taps on the walls between cells that enabled prisoners to communicate news. He wrote and shared poems with his fellow POWs that were later collected in a book, titled "Taps on the Walls. "