Despite all the talk that John Kerry is pushing the boundaries of discourse by emphasizing the possibility of a draft, the evidence continues to mount to bolster Kerry’s charges.
We’ve already seen the stop-loss orders that force servicemen and women into additional service, even after their time is up. Then there’s the use of the Individual Ready Reserve, which forces about 5,600 former soldiers, who have already left the service, back into active duty involuntarily. With this in mind, the idea of an all-volunteer military is already suspect.
But if the White House really wants to squelch concerns that a draft may be forthcoming, administration officials should probably not make contigency plans for a draft of medical personnel.
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.
You think? The military is overextended, our casualties in Iraq are getting worse, there’s no back-up plan in the event of another crisis, and the federal government is updating a plan to draft medical workers. Cause “alarm”? I can’t imagine why.