Posts tagged ‘COVID-19’
WORLD WAR CV: Congress Makes Pentagon Drop Mandatory COVID Vaccination Order
VACCINATION MANDATE ENDS.
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Jackson Adkins)
Sixteen months after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a mandate, with White House approval, that all members of the armed forces had to be vaccinated against COVID-19, Congress has passed legislation forcing the Pentagon to end the requirement.
The $857.9 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the 2023 fiscal year (from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023) was passed by Congress in late 2022 and signed into law by President Joe Biden December 23, 2022. The act includes language that requires the defense secretary to rescind the mandate, which had sparked complaints from lawmakers and lawsuits from service members.
Austin and the heads of all the services said the vaccination mandate was necessary to protect the force and maintain readiness to defend the American people. While the vast majority armed service members — more than 2 million — have gotten fully vaccinated, thousands more either refused to get the jab or sought administrative or religious exemption to the vaccination requirement. Just a few received religious accommodation, and thousands were separated from the services when their appeals ran out.
That led to several lawsuits. A federal judge in Texas certified a class action by Sailors, mostly Navy SEALS, seeking a religious exemption and issued a preliminary injunction March 30, 2022 halting separation for members of the class. A similar injunction was issued against the Marine Corps on August 18, 2022 by a federal judge in Florida. A coalition of more than 20 state attorneys general filed an amicus brief before the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals, supporting the religious liberty claims of Navy SEALs seeking exemptions from the mandatory vaccination requirement in the Texas case. Lower courts also blocked the services from separating vaccine refusers.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing April 7, 2022. (Defense Department photo by Lisa Ferdinando)
A protracted legal fight was derailed under pressure to get the annual defense bill passed, and an amendment pushed by a group of Senate Republicans requiring a halt to the mandate was approved.
“The department will fully comply with the law,” Defense department officials said, adding the Pentagon “remains committed to the health and safety of the force and to ensuring we are ready to execute our mission at all times.”
The legislation stopped short of requiring the Pentagon to reinstate troops who were dismissed for refusing the shot. It also did not mention giving them back pay, POLITICO noted, but “Austin’s memo opened the door to reinstating troops who believe they were wrongfully let go, stipulating that service members and veterans may apply to correct their records.”
Pentagon Press Secretary right now, we are not currently pursuing back-pay to service members who were dismissed for refusing to take the COVID vaccination.”
The Navy’s Take
Following a speech last week (January 11) at the Surface Navy Association annual symposium in Virginia, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro was asked about the impact the end of mandatory vaccination, the Navy League’s SEAPOWER website reported.
Before the 2023 legislation passed, Del Toro expressed concerns that a repeal of the vaccine mandate might lead to potential movement restrictions. “It will create almost two classes of citizens in our services – those that can’t deploy and those that can deploy,” he said on December 6.
Del Toro told reporters the Navy Department had followed Austin’s directive, but he expected additional guidance from the Pentagon.
Asked if he anticipated any short-term problems absent specific guidance, Del Toro said, “No, I think the majority of service members, across all services, quite frankly, get the COVID vaccination whether they’re told to, or not.”
“I suspect that a lot of people who wanted to leave the military, perhaps, did not go down that path [vaccination], so they could leave the military, perhaps before their contract expired,” Del Toro said.
FRIDAY FOTO (July 3, 2020)
Solemn Masked Men.
(U.S. Army Photo by Elizabeth Fraser)
The U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) Caisson Platoon conducts military funeral honors with a modified escort for Navy Commander Jesse W. Lewis Junior at Arlington National Cemetery on June 29, 2020.
It was the first funeral service since March 26 to include a caisson, the next step in Arlington National Cemetery’s phased plan to resume greater support to military funeral honors as COVID-19 cases within the national capital region trend downward.
According to the Arlington website:
Military funeral honors with modified escort consists of individual service branch body bearers, a firing party, an escort commander with guidon, escort, bugler, drummer, national colors and chaplain. The 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment’s caisson platoon may also be requested. Additionally, U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps service members with ranks O-6 [colonel] and above may receive a caparisoned horse and flag officers [generals and admirals] from all services may receive the appropriate presidential salute battery (PSB) gun salute.
The U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guard also participated in the ceremony for the Navy veteran.
(U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser)
FRIDAY FOTO (May 15, 2020)
Things Are Different Today.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Shane T. Beaubien)
Marines with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division prepare a M252 81mm Medium Weight Mortar at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California on April 17.
The Marines and everybody else in the services is under orders now, if you can’t maintain a social distance of six feet in the Era of COVID-19 — wear proper face protection.
(Marine Corps photo by Corporal Kameron Herndon
Different everywhere.
Marine Corps Lance Corporal Faith Rose sights in on a target during training at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan on May 6, 2020 — with face mask.
So those of you out there who think it’s inconvenient, stupid or not cool to wear a protective mask: Tell it to the Marines.
FRIDAY FOTO (April 17, 2020)
Keeping Their Distance.
(U.S. Army photo by Army Specialist Ryan Lucas)
Army paratroopers participate in physical training at Caserma Del Din, Italy on March 31, 2020. Note they’re practicing social distancing. All of the armed services are grappling with how, when and where to train a force that is supposed to be ready to protect the country any time, anywhere.
That’s been especially tricky in Italy — one of the European countries hardest-hit by the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. That outbreak has sickened 168,941 people and killed 22,172 in Italy, according to the World Health Organization.
The pandemic’s devastation — 139,515 deaths worldwide — shows that the U.S. military must prepare to operate in a new domain besides land, sea, air, space and cyber, according to the top commander of U.S. naval forces in Europe and Africa.
“That seventh domain is just simply germs. It’s the biosphere we operate in,” Admiral James Foggo III said April 15 during a webcast for Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space 2020: Virtual Edition. “And I think we’re going to have to take that into account in our preparations for deterrence and defense in the future,” said Foggo.
4GWAR 