Too late: U.S. Army removes COVID vaccine requirement for recruits
By Jim Hᴏft
The Gateway Pundit
The United States Army has removed the COVID-19 vaccine requirement for new recruits.
The Army’s recruitment challenges have been mounting in recent years, exacerbated by the stringent COVID-19 vaccine mandates that were previously in place.
Recruiting has been hampered by COVID-19 vaccine requirements as well as an increasingly woke military atmosphere where trans soldiers are give special privileges while Christian soldiers are persecuted, bases host drag shows, and leaders with a history of anti-white statements are hired.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin mandated the experimental COVID-19 vaccine for all military personnel on August 24, 2021, and like thousands of others across the Department of Defense (DOD).
In March 2022, the U.S. Army joined the other branches of the US military in their efforts to purge the ranks of all vaccine dissenters and announced the separation of three soldiers who refused to take the experimental jab. This is the first time the military branch has discharged soldiers over the mandate.
Also included in this initial round of cuts were six Army leaders who were stripped of their ranks, including two battalion commanders. There were also over 3,250 citations handed out to soldiers who are still refusing to comply with the mandate, according to a US Army statement released on March 18th.
In June 2022, up to 40,000 Army Guard troops are still unvaccinated, and at least 7,000 are at risk of being dismissed after refusing to take the experimental COVID-19 vaccine as the deadline for shots looms.
“According to data obtained by The Associated Press, between 20% to 30% of the Guard soldiers in six states are not vaccinated, and more than 10% in 43 other states still need shots,” the news outlet reported.
In July 2022, nearly 40,000 Army National Guard personnel who refused to take the experimental COVID-19 vaccine after the deadline will be barred from participating in federal training and may face financial fines or possible expulsion.
“Beginning July 1, 2022, members of the Army National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve who have refused the lawful DOD COVID-19 vaccination order without an approved or pending exemption may not participate in federally funded drills and training and will not receive pay or retirement credit,” Army said in a statement.
According to authorities from the National Guard who spoke with CBS News, 14,000 of the more than 40,000 members of the Guard who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 have said that they have no plans to obtain the vaccination in the future.
Soldiers who remain unvaccinated will miss weekend drills and lose their competency, which might lead to dismissal.
“Soldiers who refuse the vaccination order without an approved or pending exemption request are subject to adverse administrative actions, including flags, bars to service, and official reprimands. In the future, Soldiers who continue to refuse the vaccination order without an exemption may be subject to additional adverse administrative action, including separation,” Army said.
“As of June 30, The Army National Guard is at 89% vaccinated with one dose and 87% fully vaccinated. The Army Reserve is at 89% vaccinated with one dose and 88% fully vaccinated.”
In October 2022, military leaders announced they would be lowering their recruiting goal for the Army from 476,000 to about 466,000. Despite lowering this goal, the U.S Army is reporting it will miss recruiting goals for the year by 15,000 soldiers, or 25% of the goal.
The U.S. Army’s 2022 recruiting year was its worst since the end of the draft in 1973. The Army missed its goal of 60,000 new soldiers by approximately 25 percent.
According to Army Times, “The Army fell about 15,000 soldiers — or 25% — short of its recruitment goal this [2022], officials confirmed Friday, despite a frantic effort to make up the widely expected gap in a year when all the military services struggled in a tight jobs market to find young people willing and fit to enlist.”
The current fiscal year is likely to be even worse. The shortfall forced the Army to cut its planned active-duty end strength from 476,000 to 466,000, but according to the War on The Rocks outlet, “Army officials project that active end strength could shrink by as much as 20,000 soldiers by September, down to 445,000. That means that the nation’s primary land force could plummet by as much as 7 percent in only two years — at a time when its missions are increasing in Europe and even in the Pacific, where the Army provides many of the critical wartime theater enablers without which the other services cannot function.“
In February 2023, Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth issued a memorandum that rescinds all policies associated with the DOD COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
Now that Biden’s vaccine mandate for the U.S. Military has been lifted, members who were discharged for refusing the vaccine can rejoin the service.
It’s not working out too well. Out of the 8,000 people who were discharged, only 43 have rejoined.
Now, Benny Johnson shared that the US Army released its new recruitment strategy by highlighting that the COVID-19 vaccine is no longer required.
[Editor's note: This article originally appeared on The Gateway Pundit.com]
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