Posted on 03/04/2023 4:10:52 AM PST by george76
The Department of Defense (DOD) is mulling moving forward with discharges for some servicemembers who did not seek exemptions to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, according to a Feb. 24 letter from the Office of the Secretary of Defense viewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
As of Friday, the services have rescinded their vaccination orders as required by Congress.
“It’s very important that our service members go and follow orders when they are lawful,” Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Gilbert Cisneros told Republican Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana Tuesday.
The military is considering discharging servicemembers who did not seek a medical or religious exemption to the COVID-19 vaccine and received adverse actions to their military records, according to a letter to Republican Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana and Mike Rogers of Alabama viewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation and testimony provided to Congress on Tuesday.
Although the military services have rolled back their COVID-19 vaccine requirements and halted discharges of unvaccinated members after Congress legislated the end of the department-wide mandate, the Department of Defense is mulling moving forward with separations if members did not seek religious or medical exemptions, according to a Feb. 24 letter from the Office of the Secretary of Defense viewed by the DCNF. When pressed for an explanation at a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee Tuesday, service leaders said vaccine refusal cases are still being dealt with on an individual basis.
“Appropriate officials within the military services continue to review cases on an individual basis to determine appropriate action for service members who did not submit an exemption or accommodation request, remained unvaccinated, and refused a lawful order to take the vaccine,” the letter said
...
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin formally rescinded the order to receive the COVID-19 vaccine on Jan. 10 as directed by Congress in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed in December. In the weeks following, each military service branch has formulated guidance echoing the rescission.
“It’s very important that our service members go and follow orders when they are lawful,” Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Gilbert Cisneros said in response to a question from Banks questioning the reasoning behind continued review.
“What is the point if we rescinded the mandate?” Banks asked.
“The situation that you just described it was members who refused the vaccine, disobeyed a lawful order,” Cisneros continued. “Services are going through a process to look at that and evaluate what needs to be done in those situations.”
He said several thousand members did not seek any accommodations.
Roughly 8,400 members were discharged, but in 2022 several legal cases blocked the services from issuing discharges to the remainder of unvaccinated servicemembers, and the Army voluntarily paused discharges.
...
Soldiers, sailors and airmen who have already been discharged have the opportunity to petition their service branch to change the characterization of their discharge to honorable, according to guidance issued by each service.
However, those who bucked orders to receive the vaccine and did not seek medical or religious accommodations could have violations of the military justice code and other disciplinary consequences ingrained on their records, Under Secretary of the Army Gabe Camarillo said. Those violations would in normal circumstances lead to discharge, he explained.
Representatives from the Navy and Air Force echoed Camarillo’s explanation.
“Aggravating factors” beyond sole refusal to receive the vaccine will not be able to scrub their files of all adverse actions, Under Secretary of the Air Force Gina Ortiz-Jones said.
...
In a letter to DOD from earlier in February, Banks and Rogers asked the department to provide clarity on each service’s process for removing the vaccine mandate and reintegrating unvaccinated members into the force. They asked whether the rescission memos implied that only members who submitted accommodation requests are exempt from the vaccine in the future.
“No Service members currently serving will be separated based solely on their refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccination, if they sought an accommodation based on religious, administrative, or medical grounds,” the Friday response said.
“The department has complied with the NDAA requirements,” Cisneros said in his opening statements. He reiterated that no vaccination requirement exists for new military accessions — enlisted, officers, cadets and other programs — or retention.
I was in the military and I wouldn't have applied for an exemption either. I would have threatened to arrest anyone who tried to issue me the order. The order was unlawful - period.
“The military is considering discharging servicemembers who did not seek a medical or religious exemption to the COVID-19 vaccine“
These people are the only military members still serving unvaxxed
There are zero medical exemptions in the military and the military is getting sued for turning down exemption requests and kicking people out
Mercilessly impeach all the political leadership of the DoD until the rest of the leadership understands it.
Is that what it is? 40% of the country is unvaxxed?
My son joined the Marines after HS. He served 4 years honorably and did not reenlist. The @#$% airlines would not even let him fly back without being vaxxed.
I imagine it’s a matter of choice and freedom. Demanding you take an experimental vax removes any choice and freedom you think you might have.
Religious and medical justifications are fine, but only those criteria count? You have to convince leadership you are exempt because of your religion or a medical condition?
Only your “leadership” can decide if your religious concerns or medical condition(s) count? In that case, you may have your own concerns that you wish not to share and keep private but leadership passes judgement on your decision.
With the military having the default position of “convince me,” why bother, just refuse.
I’ve had COVID (68-yr old with lung damage) and it was milder than the flu, so why would I have to take a shot they said will protect me when it doesn’t, and why should I take a shot they now says protects others from me? Even if they also had the shot?
Shifting standards and almost daily changes to the shot protocols, makes sense to hold off until things are sorted and viable.
“. . .you don’t even realize that people in the military are subservient by definition. . .).
No sir, they are not. They are trained to be aggressive warriors (well, should be) and being a warrior you can’t be subservient. You are supposed think for yourself, make decisions on your own because combat is fluid and missions and orders change at a moments notice and leadership is not tied to your hip, therefore requiring you to think and act on your own, and of course refuse to follow illegal orders, etc. Hardly “subservient.”
Lie?
“Why the hell would they want to get back into the military?”
Because they are warriors serving in defense of our great nation, putting service before self. Selfless.
“Freepers I know who requested medical or religious exemptions from their employers’ vaccine mandates were successful”
The military is not a civilian workplace.
Religious and medical justifications are fine, but only those criteria count? You have to convince leadership you are exempt because of your religion or a medical condition?
Allowances for religious and medical exemptions are aimed at meeting legal requirements, so seeking them is a sound basis to act in anticipation of a potential legal challenge in the future.
Only your “leadership” can decide if your religious concerns or medical condition(s) count? In that case, you may have your own concerns that you wish not to share and keep private but leadership passes judgement on your decision.
That's fine, but my point here is that I can't imagine why someone who thinks this way would ever willingly put himself in a position where he'd be subject to orders that are driven by political considerations first and foremost.
I’ve had COVID (68-yr old with lung damage) and it was milder than the flu, so why would I have to take a shot they said will protect me when it doesn’t, and why should I take a shot they now says protects others from me? Even if they also had the shot?
That's all true. But you can apply that same reasoning to ANY vaccination that is mandatory under U.S. military standards -- and has been for years.
Thay all take orders from someone else — don’t they?
That's an odd statement in light of how this nation has progressed in the 75+ years since the end of World War II.
If you want to defend this great nation, the U.S. military is probably one of the last places where you'll end up doing such a thing.
See post #42. That post said nothing about whether the “organization” in question is a civilian, government or military workplace.
The chain works. You get the mission brief and once engaged with the enemy, your leadership may be somewhere else engaged in fighting their own fight.
When it comes down to it, each engagement is a solo effort (maybe backed up by your peers). That means you execute the mission and like it’s been said, “no plan survives first contact with the enemy.” You adjust and change to kill and remain in the fight.
What also is well known, ““A serious problem in planning against American doctrine is that the Americans do not read their manuals, nor do they feel any obligation to follow their doctrine.” – Soviet observation during the Cold War.
That means we flex and change and are not rigidly following doctrine/orders, unlike the Soviets/Russians or China and Koreans.
Those countries are subservient all the way. Side bar: when I was talking to an Egyptian colonel that flew in the 7-day War, he said he had an Israeli jet on his tail and shooting the beejesus out of him BUT he was so subserviant that he had to call his boss and ask for permission to eject.
An American general summed it up in a pithier manner: "If we don't know what the hell we're doing, how is the enemy going to figure it out?"
“Employers” to me, that is a civilian term. I guess my 20-plus years in the military defaulted my mind to read “employers” as civilian, not military. And I have not met one vet that had his waiver approved. . .too include sincere Catholics.
Pleasure to meet you where disagreement doesn’t make us enemies.
True. . .true. . .and funny.
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