Medical workers vulnerable if Congress reinstates the draft

[TexasLawyer]

All the U.S. saber-rattling at Iran and Syria has me worried about the draft. I strongly sense that one is coming.


Medical workers vulnerable if Congress reinstates the draft

Published in the Asbury Park Press 02/17/05
By MARTIN L. HAINES

<snip>
Most of our available soldiers — 120,000 to 150,000 — are in Iraq. They are a major part of what is misleadingly referred to as a "volunteer" army. A large percentage of them signed up, pre-Iraq, for weekend-summer-camp services, with discharge promised on a reasonable date in the near future. That promise was broken when the war in Iraq began. The volunteers soon had their terms of service arbitrarily extended — a draft without resort to law.

<snip>

Implementation of the Selective Service law may be imminent. A plan for the drafting of medical workers (doctors, nurses and technicians), only recently exposed, has been in place for several years. It can be activated at any time by a decision of the president and the Congress. That decision is unlikely unless we face a national emergency, an emergency far from unlikely in view of the daily crises troubling the world and the policies of our current government, which have overextended our military's resources, especially its medical resources.

If a medical workers' draft is activated, the process is to move rapidly. Congress will enact appropriate legislation. Health care workers, aged 20 to 44, estimated to number 13.5 million, will be obliged to register within 13 days. Women, for the first time, will be included. Sixty-two medical specialties are involved. Workers will be selected by specialty in a draft lottery. The highest number of prospective draftees mentioned in the press is 80,000.

The Selective Service tested the plan in 2004 using focus groups. All groups were resistant to a medical draft and concerned about the ability to train personnel quickly and the length of service that will be required. If the draft comes, it may come in gradual, discriminatory steps — first medical, then other groups with special skills, then the unskilled. Few people want a draft of any kind, but Iraq may require one sooner than later.

Martin L. Haines, of Moorestown, is a retired Superior Court judge and a former State Bar Association president.

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050217/OPINION/502170345/1030

[TexasLawyer]

1. Blog: Why are US military nurses being moved from Walter Reed to Iraq?

Re the draft, and the general war-mongering tone coming from the WH, State Dept. and Pentagon, I found this recent DU thread more than a bit spooky.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1598863

[ElsewheresDaughter]

2. oh crapola and my 31 year old daughter just graduated Mt St Marys Nursing

School 4 years ...oh god oplease let this NOT be true? she has 2 young children :scared:

[TexasLawyer]

3. I told my children that when

they are old enough to be drafted, they will probably meet some really nice people in prison-- the others, besides my children, who are also refusing to fight in a corrupt war.

[mermaid]

4. It's True, Sorry

And do you REALLY think that the "pro family values" President or Republican Party gives a CRAP about your daughter's two young children??

Why should they give a shit?? It isn't THEIR blood...or the blood of anyone THEY love, so why should they give a shit?

[Cobalt Violet]

5. 62 medical specialties.

I wonder where I can find out the specifics of which ones?

[CitySky]

7. yes please do tell.

gives me a knot in my stomach. My wonderful, kind BF will graduate from nursing school next summer. He already has Trauma ICU experience, as a tech. He's whip-smart, but also young and Hispanic- just the kind of guy RoveCo would LOVE to ship to Iraq. :cry: no no no no no

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

6. Sounds unenforceable to me.

Seriously, what do they do? Raid the hospitals and demand to see everyone's draft cards? How do they really know who has what training?

[CitySky]

9. enforcement's easy -

require hospital HR depts to keep a copy of the registration form, along with your W-4 and all that. require schools to get a copy of the reg card before giving any student aid. yuck. yuck. yuck.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

11. Yeah, but if it wants to be done quickly, like the article states...

your options would take a long time to establish. At a minimum, it would take a year to implement that.

[NC_Nurse]

8. I'll be 44 in one month...

Is it up to 44 or would I be eligible? I'm sure my specialty would be included. Recovery RN's would be very handy after trauma surgeries. Damn.

[Paranoid_Portlander]

14. Up to the 45th birthday (thru 44).

.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

15. Trauma surgeon in NC....I know one....

my brother was a trauma surgeon in the Raleigh-Durham area but he moved back to PA a few years ago. Can't remember which hospital...maybe East Carolina or NC State affiliate.

Anyway, I love visiting the Corolla area in the Outer Banks...really beautiful area.

[HockeyMom]

10. Running out

of 70 year old doctors to recall?

[TexasLawyer]

13. yeah,

and they've run through all the Viet Nam-era nurses in the IRR who can still be called. I do feel a draft!

[kckc]

12. damn

just turned 41 last week and have 20 years of medical laboratory experience. Do you think they'd want me?:eyes: