MADISON, Wis. – Candidate for Wisconsin State Senate and current Wisconsin State Representative Penny Bernard Schaber believes volunteering for the Peace Corps is the same as being a U.S. military combat veteran according to statements made by Bernard Schaber in an October 23rd debate.

Bernard Schaber, who spent two years volunteering for the Peace Corps in the 1970’s, made the statement of comparison when referring to her opponent, former State Representative and businessman Roger Roth, who served four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In her opening remarks at the League of Women Voters of Winnebago County and UW-Fox Valley debate, Bernard Schaber stated (5:45):

I’m happy to be up here on the stage with Roger Roth, um, he has had a great service to our country as a veteran. Um, I also have been a Peace Corps volunteer, so we kind of have an equal stance on that.

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Bernard Schaber, served as a volunteer in the Peace Corps from 1977-78 in Campina Grande, Brazil. According to a 1999 report, between 1961 and 1999, 239 volunteers died while serving in the organization, with the leading cause of death being “car accidents.”

According to the Peace Corps website,

Peace Corps Volunteers live and work alongside the people they serve. They collaborate with local governments, schools, communities, small businesses, and entrepreneurs to create sustainable, community-based projects that address changing and complex needs in education, health, community economic development, agriculture, environment, and youth in development.

Roth, a U.S. combat veteran, served one tour in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and three tours in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom according to his campaign website. According to a statement from one veterans group, while stationed in Iraq the base Roth deployed to in Balad, Iraq often came under mortar attack.

Unlike the few hundred Peace Corps deaths that occurred over three decades – with the leading case being car accidents – Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom have had a total of 5,331 killed in action (KIA).

Authored by Nathan Schacht