Posted on 12/06/2022 8:08:28 PM PST by SeekAndFind
A top general in the Marine Corps has acknowledged that the COVID-19 vaccine mandate is hampering its recruitment goals, but he credited the requirement with keeping military personnel healthy.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger made the comments during a panel discussion at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, on Dec. 3.
“Where it is having an impact for sure is on recruiting, where in parts of the country there’s still myths and misbeliefs about the backstory behind it,” Berger said, Military.com reported.
The general noted that the requirement for military personnel to be fully vaccinated has created recruitment issues in the south of the country in particular.
“There was not accurate information out early on and it was very politicized and people make decisions and they still have those same beliefs. That’s hard to work your way past, really hard to work,” he said.
However, Berger also credited the vaccines for preventing deaths among the Marines, stating that they were needed in order to “maintain a healthy unit that can deploy, on ship, ashore.”
Berger’s comments come as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has pledged not to pass the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) if the military COVID-19 vaccine mandate remains in place.
Speaking on the “Ingraham Angle” on Monday, McCarthy, who looks set to be the next speaker of the House, said he has spoken with President Joe Biden regarding the bill and made it “very clear from the very beginning,” that the NDAA will not pass unless the vaccine mandate for military men and women is lifted, citing a decline in recruitment.
The vaccine mandate was announced by the Marine Corps in September 2021 and has faced multiple legal challenges.
“Why? They are not meeting the recruitment goals right now because of this. People are leaving,” McCarthy said.
“I told the president if we don’t have the lifting of the vaccine, I’ll do it in January.”
As of August, 3,299 Marines had been separated from the Corps for refusing to get vaccinated, Marine Corps Times reported. Separate data from the Defense Department peg that number at 3,717.
Meanwhile, roughly 96 percent of the Marines’ active-duty force is fully vaccinated, according to the latest monthly COVID-19 update from the Marines (pdf), while 99 percent are at least partially vaccinated.
A total of 96 percent of reserves are fully vaccinated and another 96 percent are partially vaccinated too, according to the update.
The White House has said Biden is considering dropping the mandate but that he ultimately supports Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s recommendation to keep it in place.
“Discussions about the NDAA are ongoing,” White House spokeswoman Olivia Dalton said on Monday.
I would think the mandate hurts, woke BS hurts, lowering of standards hurts male decision to join, crap missions hurt, and crappy ROEs hurt.
He knows... but our elections are rigged and he knows that as well... he is in a trap, not that bright and doesn’t have the moral courage to admit what he knows...
Our country is currently being led by demons.
I was just posting with a FReeper on another thread.
I was saying how proud I was to join in 2001, and that I wouldn’t join now.
Our country and society are turning into garbage.
That's not just the vaccine. It's that the wokeism is turning off recruits in the most conservative part of the country. That comment right there, where the Commandant is specifically mentioning the South, is the giveaway.
If Biden were named Shingles, people would say...
“Shingles doesn’t care.”
Same with the border, and with inflation, and with the crime issue, etc.
But, it’s...
Brandon doesn’t care.
My response? GOOD!!!
Everytime a CSA monument is torn down the DOD loses 100,000 recruits....
Who wants a functioning standing army at this point? I don’t.
Yes, that is the plan. The DOJ and FBI are working to turn our country into garbage that they can exploit... we are led by demons and they don’t even care that we know.
I’m a Vietnam era vet. Much of my family were military.
With these modern Democrats in charge, I would not even advise a Ghetto limited kid to enlist.
Until we get rid of Democrats, just sit it out and prepare for the worst. They aren’t worth your time and efforts.
Berger is a classic example of a political general. He was made CMC because he assured his political masters he would push the woke agenda regardless on its impact on combat readiness
Other potential recruits are not going to risk taking the Jim Jones Jab when they only planned to do one tour and out.
The trust is GONE.
Red states need their own troops outside the federalized National Guard. The Federal government is not fulfilling its constitutional obligations to prevent a foreign invasion and the federal government has turned predatory to Americans. As well. Thanks to the Forever War there is a lot of men already trained.
.........only a VERY few Flag Officers in U.S. History went against their Commander in Chief. When they did, they usually got fired. MacArthur comes to mind.
So, what this general says is nothing more than what he KNOWS the marxists controllers of Biden in the White House expect one of their generals to say ergo his opinion has no meaning.
Who would want to be commanded by a lying, political kiss-ass like this?
Because, unlike my unvaxed, 84-year-old, COPD-disabled mother, young US Marines need the "polit-vax" to survive COVID.
I have been led to understand most ALL who make general are political.
Only dealt with one retired army 1 star, and he was a nothing. Company put him in his position to suck up to the army we were doing a contract.
Of course, I never had any use for the army anyways, might as well have been some admiral.
‘U.S. Navy Lowers Test Standards to Meet Recruitment Numbers’
https://maritime-executive.com/article/u-s-navy-lowers-test-standards-to-meet-recruitment-numbers
>> I was saying how proud I was to join in 2001
That’s when my first child was born.
Despite all the BS, your enlistment is very much appreciated.
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