[FightTheDraft] Possible Draft For Medical Workers

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Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

US Has Contingency Plans for a Draft of Medical Workers

 

This was originally posted in the NY Times on 10/19/04, and I

believe is a convincing article that could be used in a packet of

information about the validity of an upcoming medical worker

draft. Some of its facts are taken, most likely, from this

Selective Service fact sheet:

http://www.sss.gov/FactSheets/FSmedical.pdf

 

 

http://www.rchusid.addr.com/military_u.htm

 

THE MILITARY-U.S. Has Contingency Plans for a Draft of Medical

Workers By ROBERT PEAR

 

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 - The Selective Service has been updating its

contingency plans for a draft of doctors, nurses and other health

care workers in case of a national emergency that overwhelms the

military's medical corps.

 

In a confidential report this summer, a contractor hired by the

agency described how such a draft might work, how to secure

compliance and how to mold public opinion and communicate with

health care professionals, whose lives could be disrupted.

 

On the one hand, the report said, the Selective Service System

should establish contacts in advance with medical societies,

hospitals, schools of medicine and nursing, managed care

organizations, rural health care providers and the editors of

medical journals and trade publications.

 

On the other hand, it said, such contacts must be limited, low key

and discreet because " overtures from Selective Service to the

medical community will be seen as precursors to a draft, " and that

could alarm the public.

 

In this election year, the report said, " very few ideas or

activities are viewed without some degree of cynicism. "

 

President Bush has flatly declared that there will be no draft, but

Senator John Kerry has suggested that this is a possibility if Mr.

Bush is re-elected.

 

Richard S. Flahavan, a spokesman for the Selective Service System,

said Monday: " We have been routinely updating the entire plan for a

health care draft. The plan is on the shelf and will remain there

unless Congress and the president decide that it's needed and direct

us to carry it out. "

 

The Selective Service does not decide whether a draft will occur. It

would carry out the mechanics only if the president and Congress

authorized a draft.

 

The chief Pentagon spokesman, Lawrence T. Di Rita, said Monday: " It

is the policy of this administration to oppose a military draft for

any purpose whatsoever. A return to the draft is unthinkable. There

will be no draft. "

 

Mr. Di Rita said the armed forces could offer bonus pay and other

incentives to attract and retain medical specialists.

 

In 1987, Congress enacted a law requiring the Selective Service to

develop a plan for " registration and classification " of health care

professionals essential to the armed forces.

 

Under the plan, Mr. Flahavan said, about 3.4 million male and female

health care workers ages 18 to 44 would be expected to register with

the Selective Service. From this pool, he said, the agency could

select tens of thousands of health care professionals practicing in

62 health care specialties.

 

" The Selective Service System plans on delivering about 36,000

health care specialists to the Defense Department if and when a

special skills draft were activated, " Mr. Flahavan said.

 

The contractor hired by Selective Service, Widmeyer Communications,

said that local government operations would be affected by a call-up

of emergency medical technicians, so it advised the Selective

Service to contact groups like the United States Conference of

Mayors and the National Association of Counties.

 

Doctors and nurses would be eligible for deferments if they could

show that they were providing essential health care services to

civilians in their communities.

 

But the contractor said: " There is no getting around the fact that a

medical draft would disrupt lives. Many familial, business and

community responsibilities will be impacted. "

 

Moreover, Widmeyer said, " if medical professionals are singled out

and other professionals are not called, many will find the process

unfair, " and health care workers will ask, " Why us? "

 

In a recent article in The Wisconsin Medical Journal, published by

the state medical society, Col. Roger A. Lalich, a senior physician

in the Army National Guard, said: " It appears that a general draft

is not likely to occur. A physician draft is the most likely

conscription into the military in the near future. "

 

Since 2003, the Selective Service has said it is shifting its

preparations for a draft in a national crisis toward narrow sectors

of specialists, including medical personnel.

 

Colonel Lalich, citing Selective Service memorandums on the subject,

said the Defense Department had indicated that " a conventional draft

of untrained manpower is not necessary for the war on terrorism. "

But, he said, " the Department of Defense has stated that what most

likely will be needed is a 'special skills draft,' " including care

workers in particular.

 

That view was echoed in a newsletter circulated recently by the

Selective Service System, which said the all-volunteer force

had " critical shortages of individuals with special skills'' that

might be needed in a crisis.

 

The Selective Service and Widmeyer held focus groups this summer to

sample public opinion toward registration and a possible draft

including medical personnel. People from a variety of professions,

including doctors and nurses, were questioned.

 

The report summarized the findings this way:

 

¶ " There was substantial resistance to the notion of a call-up of

civilian professionals that would send draftees to foreign soil. "

 

¶A draft of civilian professionals was seen as unworkable because

" training would be inadequate to transform groups of people who had

never worked together into cohesive units. "

 

¶People are apprehensive about the length of service that might be

required. The " occupation of Iraq has proved more costly, in terms

of dollars and lives, than most Americans expected. " Members of the

National Guard are " serving tours of duty far longer than many ever

anticipated. "

 

¶People believe the government has the ability to " find whomever it

needs " in a crisis, by using a " master database " if necessary.

 

President Bush and Mr. Kerry have said they oppose a draft. " Forget

all this talk about a draft, " Mr. Bush said at the second

presidential debate, on Oct. 8 in St. Louis. " We're not going to

have a draft so long as I'm the president. "

 

But Mr. Kerry said, " You've got a backdoor draft right now " because

" our military is overextended " as a result of policies adopted by

Mr. Bush.

 

Bryan G. Whitman, a spokesman for the Defense Department, said: " The

all-volunteer force has been working very well for 30 years. There

is absolutely no reason to go back to a draft. "

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/19/politics/19draft.html?

oref=login & oref=login & pagewanted=print & position=

 

 

No American should be forced to fight a war based on the hidden

agenda of the government.

 

 

http://americansagainstthedraft.com/

http://mothersagainstthedraft.org/

fightthedraft/