On Thursday, January 13, President Joe Biden announced that military personnel would be deployed to hospitals in 6 states, including New Jersey, to aid in the recent surge of the Omicron variant. University Hospital in Newark, NJ is set to receive the first group of military medical staff. According to nj.com, this hospital “has had more than 700 employees out sick with the coronavirus in the past 30 days,” which is more than any other hospital in the state. 

This decision creates an interesting contradiction to Moorestown Friends’s Quaker beliefs, specifically regarding anti-violence. Bringing military personnel into a nearby hospital raises the question within the MFS community on how this news would be received. 

Shay O’Connor (’23), a member of Worship Planning Committee, says that people “can discuss any issues relating to the military or things like that while bearing in mind Quaker principles.” He also believes that “It’s important to have an open and free conversation.” 

O’Connor says that bringing military personnel into the community creates an interesting contradiction that sparks important conversations: “We care a lot about peace and making sure that people work together to solve issues and it also goes along with other values like community and things like that, but at the same time, these medical units are obviously helping people with COVID.”

Although this is the first time there has been military support sent to hospitals since the appearance of the Omicron variant, their presence has been noticed throughout the pandemic. Chester Reagan Chair Melissa McCourt recalls her experience of seeing military personnel when getting vaccinated: “I think there was this level of seriousness or kind of awareness in a way that I felt in that process.”

For McCourt, this “level of seriousness” was coupled with a feeling of safety and support from the military presence. This was because “the military personnel in this example are really doing something to help. They’re not doing something violent; they’re doing something to support the community and respond to a need.”

The potential for President Biden’s decision to interfere with MFS Quaker values was instead met with an interest and excitement for new conversations: “In some ways I’m sure people would be on different sides and might have different point of views and instead of interfere I think of it as an opportunity to discuss out Quaker values and when we feel like they’re lived out or when they’re not.”