The Pentagon has issued a vaccine mandate for the military, and members of the Air Force have responded.  Up to 12,000 service members have flatly stated they will refuse to be vaccinated against COVID.  Air Force brass is threatening the service members with punishment up to and including dismissal from the service.  The sheer number refusing the mandate brings up the problem of how to maintain readiness.

More than 90% of Air Force personnel are already partially vaccinated.  Those who are not and who are refusing vaccination include pilots and aircraft maintainers.  If enough of these vital positions are lost, the Air Force may find itself unable to respond in a crisis.

The Air Force does not seem to care that its draconian vaccine measure might lead to a loss of readiness.  Instead, it's already presenting penalties that may be applied to service members who refuse vaccination, up to and including court-martial.  Apparently, the Air Force, which is supposed to protect freedom, is willing to deny freedom to any service member who does not want to be subjected to experimental gene therapy masquerading as a vaccine.

It's not the first time the armed forces of the United States have run into trouble trying to force untested vaccines upon the troops.  During the Gulf War, troops were forced to submit to anthrax vaccination until a federal judge ordered the vaccinations to stop.  In 2004, U.S. district judge Emmet G. Sullivan ruled that the mandatory vaccination program was illegal, on the ground that the FDA had violated its own rules in granting emergency approval to the experimental anthrax vaccine.

More than a million troops were inoculated despite complaints that the vaccines were making them sick.  Veterans are currently seeking redress for Gulf War Syndrome, which includes the possibility of long-term side effects from anthrax vaccines.

Now the military is facing the same challenge it did in the Gulf War.  This time, the disease being vaccinated against is very mild and cannot be eradicated.  The level of refusal is such that national security might be affected.  Under such circumstances, it would appear that discretion would indeed be the better part of valor and that mandating experimental procedures on our troops for the sniffles is unwise, as well as a betrayal of the men and women who sacrifice so much to keep our country free.

Pandra Selivanov is the author of The Pardon, a story of forgiveness based on the thief on the cross in the Bible.

Image: USAF Thunderbirds by David Armer.  Public domain.

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