A training organization conducted by the Seventh-day Adventist Church for the purpose of preparing the young men of the church for their obligatory military service. Since the work of saving life is in keeping with the church’s noncombatant beliefs, the General Conference Committee as early as the Autumn Council of 1916 encouraged the young men subject to the draft to prepare themselves to fulfill their obligations in medical military service. To help these young men to obtain training along medical lines, some of the SDA sanitariums, most of the colleges, including the medical college at Loma Linda, and some of the academies opened and conducted special classes in emergency first-aid work. Hundreds of SDA young people in the United States availed themselves of this training.
The program of giving basic military medical training, in preparation for military obligations, was begun in 1934, at Union College, Lincoln, Nebraska, by E. N. Dick, professor of history. Two years later a more advanced program of similar training was carried out at the White Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles, California, under the direction of Cyril B. Courville, M.D., a major in the U.S. Army Medical Corps Reserve. When the draft was begun in the United States in 1940, these training programs and others were combined; and training units were established in academies, colleges, and in larger centers where members were concentrated. In some localities a training plan for women in the church was instituted under the name Women’s Cadette Corps. Training was aimed at nursing service at home or under the Civilian Defense program.
After World War II the Medical Cadet Corps training units were largely closed down; however, with the establishment of the draft in the United States again in 1950 the training program was revived and strengthened. Annual national camps to train instructors were conducted.
Instruction was in three categories: (1) special skills introductory to the work of a medical corpsman (for example, first aid, camp sanitation); (2) preparation for military training (basic drill, military courtesy); and (3) the SDA soldier’s relation to the military (on principles of noncombatancy, Sabbath observance, and Christian living). With the cessation of the draft in 1972 the Medical Cadet Corps program was closed down in the United States.
The Medical Cadet Corps training program has also been inaugurated in countries in various parts of the world, particularly Puerto Rico and other Caribbean countries. This training is different in each country, since it endeavors to prepare the church member for the specific problems of military service he faces in his own country.
In 1991 a meeting was called to initiate plans for the North American Division to reconsider the MCC. Actions taken allow Adventist Chaplains’ Ministries to revive the corps should the draft ever be reinstated.
Meanwhile, the organization is looking for a way to connect with the United States Department of Health and use their modified uniforms and discipline to create a community and disaster service identity for the program.
In 1993 there were about 1,000 members in Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. The first national project was to provide security and other services at the Dare to Care Pathfinder Camporee in Denver, Colorado, in August 1994. Those who are involved in the 1990s version of the MCC are mostly people of Hispanic background. It is hoped that the course will become a vehicle of training and preparation for service in disasters, and that people of all ethnic groups will find it an attractive way to organize a young adult ministry in their communities.