AirBear

https://www.npr.org/2022/02/02/10776...id-vaccination

-96% have the vax

-those discharged will not receive involuntary separation pay and may have to pay back incentive pay

-those who have medical or religious requests for waivers pending are exempt temporarily

-2 Battalion CO's have been relieved and 3,073 general officer reprimands issued for refusing the vax order.

ShyGuy

Is it really worth it? I'm in the "just take the shot" camp.


That said, I have had a change in mind, in that I don't think one should be fired over it (mainly because anyone above 5 who wanted the vax could have gotten it in this country, we all have to accept that this will be an endemic, take your vax and boosters as you see fit, and stop clogging the hospitals).

Stryker172

Soldiers don't get to pick and choose which orders to follow. I had to get the anthrax series just a few months before I got out.

SuperFredDriver

The problem is unlike most vax in the military the exemption authority for this one is being held at the Surgeon General level (normally base Doc or Majcom Doc). To date no religious exemptions have been approved for the Air Force and I'd have to find the number but I believe it's less than 100 medical exemptions. I have received two exemptions in my career due to adverse reactions and no one bats an eye. However with this one it has become so political that folks having adverse reactions to the first shot in the series of two are being denied a medical exemption. I know its a small scale case but I personally know two members who got myocarditis as a result of the first shot. They asked for a waiver to the second shot and were denied. One was down for 6 weeks after the second shot with heart issues, and the second still can't fly as their heart issues haven't resolved (4 months and counting). My point being while the shot is generally speaking a descent solution, it is not a one size fits all solution and every human is different and will be affected by it differently. These folks are just looking out for their own self interest and trying to medically protect themselves.

rickair7777

Yup. They cannot walk this one back, that would set a future precedent for not only vaccines but also grass-roots activism in the military.

If they let it go too far and it spreads to other issues, they'll have to stand some people in front of firing squads to regain their authority during some future major conflict.

Excargodog

Absolutely. Having said that, the stupid thing was to give the order in the first place. It’s an age group that experiences negligible mortality and morbidity from the disease who are still going to get and spread omicron anyway.

Not getting it IS a get out of jail free card for those not wanting to visit Eastern Europe though.

rickair7777

I know why they did it, was told by flag officer buddies: to avoid disruption associated with having to quarantine/lockdown infected members. That was valid with covid 1.0.

HIFLYR

Funny parody on the Canadian Truckers

https://bnt-cdn.b-cdn.net/upload/vid..._converted.mp4

DropTank

About time.

Ignore orders and be discharged.

They were unreliable soldiers anyway

Zard

And now they're trained, unemployed, and pi$$ed.

genius plan. Almost as sound strategic thinking as abandoning an airfield before a retreat.