Originally Posted by
Excargodog
You don’t make an already serious situation better by giving a stupid order, and this was and is a stupid order.
Whatever the issues early on, after Omicron and all the other variants, practically everybody left by this time has already been infected and will have as good immunity from SERIOUS infection as their peer group who were immunized. I would grant you that having given the stupid order, the military has no option but to enforce it, but that doesn’t somehow not make it a stupid order to begin with. There are LOTS of immunizations out there - even quite effective ones against diseases that actually have a high mortality, where the juice ain’t worth the squeeze.
Like rabies, only given to those at actual risk.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...e-after-bites/
In the end, the military gets to dictate which vaccines are mandatory and which are not. They can and will kick you out for not taking a flu vaccine just like they will for not taking an anthrax vaccine or a Covid vaccine.
This whole argument smacks of entitlement and victimhood. When you join the military, you know full well that a scenario like this one may play out in your career. The great thing about the US military is that they actually give you the option of whether you want to take it or not. If you don't, great, they will send you home no worse off than the day you raised your right hand.
I highly suspect that the guard and reserve can stand to lose a few bodies these days since we have wrapped up our latest forever wars. This vaccine mandate can be used as a force shaping tool just like physical fitness and whatever other performance based BS reasons they come up with to kick good people to the curb. Too bad, so sad. Take it or don't. Just don't cry about it to the right wing entertainment media so that they can make a sob story about how the president let you down. Be a grown man or a woman and accept the consequences for your decisions.
Oh, and PS, every generation has made the same generalization about the new generation not being up to snuff and tough enough to fight the next war. It's always wrong. Right now we are in a period of basically zero unemployment. The economy is the only thing that has any significant effect on military recruiting.