Posted on 12/22/2023 4:22:16 PM PST by Twotone
Former Marine Catherine Arnett, who spent 113 days in the brig and was eventually discharged for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine in 2022, was arrested earlier this month for attempting to return to her duty station in Japan, according to Stars and Stripes.
Arnett's case became a cause célèbre when she refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine in 2022, citing religious objections to the fact that the vaccine was developed using research that involved fetal tissue cells. Arnett's request for a religious exemption was denied. The Marine Corps notified Arnett that she faced administrative separation due to this decision, but Arnett twice refused to board a flight to the United States, or indeed to even leave the base, which led to her being court martialed.
This set in motion a chain of events that led to multiple set trial dates and unsuccesful attempts to discharge Arnett. Finally, in June, the Corps informed Arnett that charges against her were being dropped without prejudice, and that she would be administratively discharged. At the time, Marine Maj. Rob Martins, a spokesman for the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing told Task and Purpose, "This decision was made judiciously while balancing what was best for Lance Cpl. Arnett and the United States Marine Corps."
The vaccine mandate was ultimately rescinded on January 10, 2023 by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Arnett, meanwhile, apparently did not agree that her separation from the Marine Corps was best for her. According to Stars and Stripes, Arnett was detained on December 1st while attempting to enter MCAS Iwakuni around 2:30am. She was detained and turned over to local police later that day, who finally released her "last week." Arnett did not respond directly to Stars and Stripes in a request for comment, but someone purporting to be her secretary claimed that Arnett was re-entering the base as an act of civil disobedience. "Ms. Arnett was solely standing on the principle that since the mandate was unconstitutional from the jump, all other actions that transpired as a result were also unlawful orders. She arrived at the base to take the stand and drive home the concept that she refused to take her DD214 and still refuses to comply with any separation orders."
According to Stars and Stripes, Japanese prosecutors have not yet made a decision on whether to charge Arnett with a crime for entering the base without permission.
Additionally, I had a bit of deja vu:
Arnett was detained on December 1st while attempting to enter MCAS Iwakuni around 2:30am. ... Japanese prosecutors have not yet made a decision on whether to charge Arnett with a crime for entering the base without permission.
Did she enter or attempt to enter. It sounds like she showed her ID card at the gate, it was scanned, and it showed her to be banned from the base, or she was simply instantly recognized by the military police, and she was taken into custody.
It implies that she did not enter without permission, but rather entered under compulsion as a detainee, or more properly as an arrestee.
The incident appears a bit clearer from a Stars & Stripes report. When they want to screw with a service member overseas, they enlist the aid of the host nation to be a pain in the butt while they claim no responsibility for anything. Notably, she was never charged with not taking the vaccine but with various other invented charges which were subsequently dropped.
Marine veteran who refused COVID-19 vaccine arrested in JapanBy Jonathan Snyder and Hana Kusumoto
Stars and Stripes • December 22, 2023
[excerpts]
Japanese police allege that Catherine Arnett, 25, was detained by military police after attempting to enter MCAS Iwakuni around 2:30 a.m. Dec. 1, a city police spokesman told Stars and Stripes on Tuesday. She was turned over to Iwakuni city police around 11:30 a.m. that day and released from custody “last week,” the spokesman said.
[...]
In response to an email Tuesday, a woman who described herself as Arnett’s secretary said Arnett was engaging in an act of civil disobedience by returning to MCAS Iwakuni.
[...]
“Ms. Arnett was solely standing on the principle that since the mandate was unconstitutional from the jump, all other actions that transpired as a result were also unlawful orders,” Jamie Engel told Stars and Stripes in a statement. “She arrived at the base to take the stand and drive home the concept that she refused to take her DD214 and still refuses to comply with any separation orders.”
A government official in Japan told Military.com that Arnett was detained by military police stationed at the base due to suspicion that she had violated the status of forces agreement between the United States and Japan.
“Catherine Arnett was separated from the United States Marine Corps several months ago and has since had no official affiliation with the service,” 1st Lt. Aaron Ellis, a Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni spokesman, told Stars and Stripes. “Since Catherine Arnett is a civilian, we do not have any additional information.”
Arnett probably has to sue the service in District Court to get action. The Covid orders were declared unlawful and all punishments imposed pursuant thereto were also unlawful. The services want each individual member to request a correction of his or her records. They do not want to accept responsibility for their steaming pile of crap and just deal with their own self-created mess. They want to treat it as an admin error. It was not an error but intentional acts in furtherance of illegal orders.
Regarding her earlier adventure with military authority, they are addressed by earlier reports by Stars & Stripes.
Marine in Japan who refused COVID-19 vaccine is in brig facing new allegationsBy Jonathan Snyder
Stars and Stripes • January 24, 2023
Wing commander Maj. Gen. Eric Austin ordered Arnett discharged on Jan. 9 based on allegations that she committed forgery and made false official statements, violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice articles 105 and 107, respectively, Martins said. The case against Arnett is under review, he added.
“There have not been any formal charges preferred at this time,” Martins said. “As part of the military justice application of due process, military prosecutors will review the evidence available and [recommend] charges to the convening authority.”
Martins did not detail the alleged offenses, which he described as serious.
“Lance Cpl. Arnett is currently confined at the Camp Hansen brig as part of the pre-trial confinement process,” he confirmed on Tuesday.
In September, the Marine Corps dismissed two counts against Arnett of missing troop movements and one of disobeying a direct order after a federal judge in August temporarily barred the Corps from punishing or discharging Marines who refused the vaccine on religious grounds.
Charges against anti-vaccine Marine dismissed in favor of dischargeBy Jonathan Snyder
Stars and Stripes • June 7, 2023TOKYO — The Marine Corps again dismissed the case against a lance corporal who refused the COVID-19 vaccine last year on an unrelated charge of insubordination and other offenses, a Marine spokesman said Wednesday.
The Marines instead will discharge Lance Cpl. Catherine Arnett, who refused at least three times to board aircraft from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, her duty station at the time, to California. The service never charged Arnett with refusing the vaccine, but she was facing administrative discharge.
“All charges against Lance Cpl. Arnett have been withdrawn at this time,” a spokesman for the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, Maj. Rob Martins, told Stars and Stripes by email Wednesday. “This decision was made judiciously while balancing what was best for Lance Cpl. Arnett and the United States Marine Corps.”
[...]
Anyone who joins the service after this is a fool by choice.
Who would join a military hell bent on killing unborn children and drumming their defenders from the corps? Not me. They have purged the decent. Stay away.
They were not lawful orders.....
The Kenyan would feel just as righteous.
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