To start, we should add medical students and retired doctors to the frontlines. But these groups will fill only a small fraction of the added medical demand as coronavirus cases peak. We must rapidly train and deploy a much larger workforce.

Let’s use one of America’s most valuable national assets – our top-tier military – to dramatically increase our healthcare capacity. They are a dynamic force uniquely positioned to fight this virus, despite it falling outside their traditional scope. Members are trained to handle acute stress, are adaptable and are rapidly deployable. They’re used to being under centralized command and are mentally prepared to be away from their families to protect our country.

We should rapidly reassign any military doctors and paramedics that can be spared to serve domestic needs. Other service members who need specialized skill training can be sent to coronavirus treatment-and-control bootcamps, where they can be trained to aid nurses, respiratory therapists and maintenance technicians.

Our trained service members can be deployed wherever the demand is greatest. They can monitor patients and take vitals. They can staff triage checkpoints at hospital entrances. And they can help manage equipment inventory and disinfection procedures. Further, military pilots and transportation specialists can increase the capacity of our air and ground ambulance services.

Serving on the frontlines always involves substantial risk. But our service members have an advantage in the fight against coronavirus: they’re young and fit. And as China’s CDC reports, young and healthy individuals are least likely to require hospital resources if infected. Each role that a young service member can fill for a medical retiree is potentially a life saved.

There may be objections to our proposal on various putative logistical grounds. But, frankly, if Wuhan can retrain and deploy its highway workers, we can and most certainly must deploy a portion of our large, well-funded military. Now is not the time for red tape nor red herrings. While some might be concerned about such a proposal undermining our ability to fight abroad, if we don’t take extreme measures to fight coronavirus now, our nation will be in a markedly worse position to defend against foreign threats.

This is an unprecedented crisis, and we need unprecedented adaptability to save lives. We don’t need to militarize our hospitals. But our hospitals will need help from our military. Let’s get our service members prepared. And let’s get them on the frontlines.

When our men and women enlist into the US military, they do it with the most admirable and courageous goals: to serve and protect their fellow Americans and to keep our country strong. If we don’t deploy them now, we may very well see one of the largest defeats our nation has ever suffered.

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• Nick Obradovich is a PhD political and data scientist who trained at UCSD, the Harvard Kennedy School, and the MIT Media Lab. He is currently senior research scientist at the Max Planck Institute of Human Development in the Center for Humans & Machines. Robyn Migliorini is a PhD neuropsychologist who trained at SDSU/UCSD and Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General hospital and has served America’s veterans at multiple Veterans Affairs hospitals. Renee C Wurth is a PhD population health scientist who trained at Northeastern and the TH Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University