Are Health Care Professionals Subject to the Draft?

건강관리 전문가들은 징병 대상인가?

 Questions and Answers About The Health Care Personnel Delivery System

건강관리 인력 배송제도에 대한 질문과 답변

In response to Department of Defense concerns about potential shortfalls of health care personnel, legislation was introduced in 1987 to register medical specialists. That legislation was soon replaced with instructions for Selective Service to design a Health Care Personnel Delivery System, PL 100-180, which amended the Military Selective Service Act in December 1987.

The Health Care Personnel Delivery System (HCPDS) would be an annex to the regular conscription system under the Military Selective Service Act. It is a very different proposal from the Doctors' Draft, which expired in 1973.

Selective Service first published the first HCPDS concept paper in August 1989. That proposal has now been reissued in greater detail and with a few changes reflecting the critique Selective Service received in 1989. The concept paper is not yet law, though changes in the proposal are not likely without strong leadership from the medical community.

There is no draft operating now. Although the statute and regulations for a draft are in place, the President's induction authority expired in July 1973. The only part of a draft which is currently operating is draft registration, which is required of young men between the ages of 18-25.

At this time, Selective Service has no statutory authority to draft medical personnel. That authorization would be provided by legislation to be introduced and passed in Congress at the time of a national defense mobilization. That "M-Day" legislative package has not been made available for public comment or Congressional debate.

Can Selective Service start registering and drafting at any time?

No. The proposal is not yet law. It would require authorizing legislation, as well as implementing regulations. Selective Service says it will be kept "on the shelf" to be implemented when needed.

Are all medical personnel vulnerable?

Yes. The Health Care Professionals Delivery System would register and conscript sixty-two categories of medical specialists. They range from orthopedic surgeons to animal care technicians-doctors, nurses, medical specialists of all types.

Can I be drafted if I am fifty years old?

Yes. In this concept, Selective Service projects taking people through age 55.

Are students in the health care professions subject to the draft?

When students complete their qualification for their specialty, they will be required to register and will be subject to this medical specialists draft. In the meantime, if they are subject to the regular draft they could be inducted or deferred under the regulations already in place.

Are women included?

Yes. Selective Service proposes that women be included, since the service they provide is non-combatant. The current exclusion of women from the draft would be amended in the statute.

How likely is it that this proposal will ever be implemented?

It depends on how long and how big a war is, and how many casualties are predicted or eventuate. CCW believes that medical specialists will be called well before they ever get around to a general draft. During the Gulf War, health care specialists in the reserves were mobilized first, along with the logistics personnel who got them in place.

If I am registered for the draft already, will I need to register again as a medical specialist?

Yes. The separate register of Health Care Professionals will supersede the other registration. You will be required to provide information about the highest skill level in the health care professions that you have attained. You will still be subject to the regular draft, though you will almost certainly be beyond the age for call-up in the prime selection group of men who turn twenty in the calendar year.

Will there be deferments and exemptions?

As in the regular draft, there will be deferments, but the physical standards for acceptance will be lower.

Who decides who goes?

Selective Service System local draft boards and administrative offices staffed by reservists will decide all claims for postponements, deferments, and exemptions. Physicians's claims that they are "essential" to their community will be evaluated by advisory boards.

Will there be provisions for conscientious objectors?

The same criteria for conscientious objectors would apply as in the regular draft.

Do conscientious objectors have to be wary of particular problems for health care professionals?

Potential applicants need to be alerted to the fact that during the Gulf War it was especially difficult to gain approval for CO claims by military doctors.

Will alternative service be required of conscientious objectors?

Yes, but the alternative service program for medical personnel is not defined yet. Selective Service says it needs to monitor it more closely than the regular alternative service program, but does not explain what this close monitoring would entail. Selective Service intends to reassign health care COs to fields in which there is a short supply of health care givers. Health care specialists should be aware that they will probably have a right to present their own proposal for the work they would do in alternative service.

What other problems are there with the proposed system?

• It is unfair that male health care personnel will be subject to liability under both conscription systems.
• The proposal does not explain how adequate public notice of the requirements of the system will be given.
• The proposal is too vague regarding which occupational deferments will be allowed. Without detail, a proper assessment cannot be made.
• Similarly, not enough is said about how SSS will register the various specialties and then respond to DoD calls by particular specialty. The differential rates for differing specialties, combined with random sequence selection, and youngest first requirements implicit in the regular draft, do not seem to be resolved.
• Selective Service says it cannot meet the worst-case scenario proposed by DoD. CCW has some sympathy with this view, since it is predicated on all-out nuclear war.
• The system is a "mobilization style" draft, which CCW believes to have no statutory authority. Since Congress has explicitly rejected such a system, legal challenges on this basis can be expected.
• CCW does not see the need for lower physical standards for health care personnel, as if their service would be any less vigorous and less demanding than that which other draftees would have to undergo.
• SSS claims to have coordinated the proposal with other government agencies, though this cannot have been done with the officials in the present administration.

• 남성 건강관리 인원이 두가지 징병 제도에 함께 의무를 진다는 것은 불공평하다

• 제안은 이 제도의 의무사항들에 대해 얼마나 적절한 공지가 주어질 것인지 설명하고 있지 않다.

• 제안은 어느 직업적 유예가 허용될지에 대하여 모호하다. 상세한 내용이 없이는 적절한 평가가 이루어 질 수 없다.

• 마찬가지로, SSS가 어떻게 다양한 전문가들을 등록하여 그런 특별한 전문성에 따라서 국방부의 소집에 응할 것인지 충분히 언급되어 있지 않다. 다양한 전문성들에 대한 차등률은, 임의의 순서에 의한 선발 및 정규 징집에 내재된 최연소자 우선 조건과 결부되어서, 해결되지 않을 것처럼 보인다.  

• 대체 복무는 국방부가 제시하는 최악의 경우의 시나리오에 부응할 수 없다고 말한다. CCW는 이런 시각에 대해서 약간 공감을 가지고 있다, 왜냐하면 그것은 전면적 핵전쟁에서 예견되기 때문이다.

• 이 시스템은 "동원 유형"의 징병으로서, CCW는 이것이 아무런 법적인 권한을 가질 수 없다고 믿는다. 의회는 이러한 시스템을 공개적으로 거부했으므로, 이런 근거에 대한 법적인 문제 제기가 예상될 수 있다.

• CCW는 건강관리 인원에 대한 열등한 신체적 기준들에 대한 필요가 없다고 본다, 왜냐하면 만일 그들의 복무가 다른 피징병자들이 겪어야 하는 것보다도 덜 의욕적이며 덜 까다로운 것이라면 말이다.

• SSS는 이 제안을 다른 정부 기구들과 조정했다고 주장한다, 그러나 이것은 현재의 행정부 관리들과 행해졌을 리가 없다.

Is my professional association fully aware of this proposal?

SSS is misleading in claiming to have consulted with the affected professions. As in 1989, CCW does not believe that this has been done sufficiently nor with sufficient publicity to allow proper consultation. Write to your association and ask for its analysis and position on the HCPDS.

What next steps should be considered?

The proposal should not be kept on the shelf, to be included with the special legislation authorizing U.S. participation in hostilities. Instead, this proposal should be discussed by the public and by the affected professions, and hearings should be held in Congress to determine whether or not such a conscription system is necessary.