The Physician to Soldier Pipeline · Episode 10 of 14 · 23 min
Greeting, Doctor
On September 9, 1950 the President signed an act creating a second draft aimed at one profession, with its own registration, age bracket and expiry clock. A similar bill had died in 1948 over medical association opposition. The law put first in line the men the services had put through medical school in the Second World War and never used.
Who's who
- George E. Armstrong+1 more episodeDeputy Army Surgeon General who warned in 1948 of a critical shortage
- Raymond W. BlissArmy Surgeon General who backed the 1948 bill
- Frank B. BerrySurgeon and Assistant Secretary of Defense who designed the Berry Plan
- Harry S. Truman+14 more episodesPresident who approved the doctor draft act
- Charles C. PixleyArmy Surgeon General from 1977
Where it happens
- KoreaWar whose casualties made the doctor draft politically possible
- Washington, D.C.+31 more episodesWhere the act was debated and signed
Timeline
- July 1948Armstrong writes that the shortage is the most critical in twenty-five years; the 1948 bill dies
- September 9, 1950Truman approves Public Law 81-779
- January 1951First drafted medical officers reach Korea
- 1954The Berry Plan is adopted
- July 1, 1973The doctor draft expires and the Berry Plan ends
- August 16, 1979GAO publishes 'Military Medicine Is in Trouble'
Still debated
No named individual who was drafted twice, as enlisted man and then as physician, has been documented; the claim rests on the statute. The total physicians inducted 1950-73 is not established, and the extension chronology of the special sections is partly garbled in sources.
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