I recently had a question posed to me: “If the military makes the vaccine mandatory and I don’t want it, what course of action would you recommend?” It’s a great question, and in light of everything going on in the world, it needs serious thought behind it. Keep in mind I’m only answering the question as it was asked. I’m not spouting statistics, my opinion of the vaccine, what you should personally decide to do while the vaccine is still “optional,” or any other thought that comes up in the comments from the “eager to argue” twats who’ve missed the entire point and decided to make an argument for something that’s not even being discussed. (I spend more time typing up disclaimers than I do on actual content anymore. Some of you are really fucking annoying….)
Vaccines have never been an option
Vaccines have always been mandatory up until now. I couldn’t tell you if there was ever a time when they weren’t, but in our current military, they’re mandatory. The Covid vaccine was made optional due to a lack of FDA approval (though I tend to think it was more for optics and the political fallout from the military adoring right wing that would have caused a massive uproar over forcing it on service members, but I concede that is merely speculation).
This battle was already fought back in the 90s with the Anthrax vaccine, and it involved a lot more than people grumbling on social media. The SECDEF signed a memo establishing the vaccination program in 1997, and it ended up making a lot of people sick and troops refusing to take it. Many of those people were punished through discharge or other means under the UCMJ. You can read the whole thing at this link. To make it short for you, the military waved goodbye to those who refused, and they kept driving into the future with their decision.
So what can you do?
Just as you won’t find exemptions to receiving a mandated vaccination now, you won’t find one that’s approved and mandated by the government in the future, to include the Covid vaccination. Here’s what will likely take place: you’ll refuse to take it, you’ll be charged with failing to obey a direct order, you’ll either take your Article 92 and the ensuing punishment PLUS get the vaccination anyways, or you’ll request court martial, be found guilty, and discharged with a general discharge. I highly doubt you’d be charged with an other than honorable or dishonorable discharge, but I always remind readers I have zero background in legal, so take that “likely” outcome with a grain of salt. You might catch a spicy judge who wants to make an example out of you for the rest of the military to see.
We’re living in strange times, but they’re not exactly different times. I guarantee everything you’re experiencing has occurred on some level to someone else before. When you signed up, you signed your rights away. You have rights to recourse and redress under the UCMJ, but it’s important to remember you belong to the government, and commanders have a VAST amount of authority. I’ll get froggy with just about any rank under 06, but even I won’t mess with any of my commanders, and that INCLUDES 03-CPTs.
Your best bet (and once again, speculating here) is to abstain on religious grounds. Even then, you won’t win, but it may dampen the punishment you receive. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine was proven to have been developed with aborted fetus stem cells. This doesn’t mean the current vaccine has aborted fetus stem cells in them, it just means the original development was created with them. As far as I know, the military doesn’t use the J&J vaccine, but I offer this knowledge up as something to consider and utilize if you are hard line enough to go that route. Either way, you won’t win, so consider what it is you will lose and ultimately whether the juice is worth the squeeze.