I regret that I couldn’t be here today, but I wanted to share my story with you.
I am a National Guard Soldier. I have served for more than two decades, all as a Guardsman. I have served more than half of that time as an enlisted Soldier, and the remaining decade as a Commissioned Officer. I have spent nearly 3 years of my life in the Middle East; two of those three deployments were combat, and the third I had the honor to deploy in command of my own unit. I have both led and followed brave men and women into harm’s way – men and women who would lay down their lives for me, and I for them.
Serving in the military of the greatest nation on earth, side by side with courageous and honorable men and women, has helped to shape the person I am. It has taught me about honor and integrity. I have learned what it truly means to be brave. I have gained an understanding of friendship and loyalty that runs more deeply than any other I have experienced.
It is for these reasons that I am compelled to speak out and stand up for myself and fellow service members against a grave injustice, one that affects these same men and women who would sacrifice all for their fellow Soldiers and for their country.
As military men and women, we fight for the freedoms we enjoy, and often take for granted in this country our greatest, being our First Amendment right which includes freedom of religion and freedom of speech. When the COVID vaccine came out, many were apprehensive about taking it due to the manner in which it was developed and produced, using the stem cells of aborted fetuses.
Regardless of your stand on this increasingly divisive issue, the fact remains that for many, this is a deeply religious and moral issue. For those of us who hold the unborn child to be a sacred life created in God’s own image and likeness, the idea of injecting a shot, born of their massacre through abortion, is unthinkable.
We find ourselves at a crossroads between salvation and damnation, recognizing that when we meet our Father in Heaven, we will have to answer for the choices we have made. We will have to explain to our God, the Creator of these many children slayed through abortion, that we supported it, benefited from it … for what? For my career? For retirement points? Fear? Health insurance benefits?
Unfortunately, the Army’s mandate that Soldiers subject themselves to what many of us believe to be an ethical abomination has put Servicemembers in an impossible position. For many, they are forced to choose between betraying their conscience and providing for their families, being able to pay their mortgages, or accessing health care for their children.
Those of us who have requested religious exemptions have been treated with contempt by our leadership, have been denied the privileges we’ve earned, and have had to fight for even the most basic opportunities entitled to us by our service agreements and by the Religious Freedoms Act, such as the ability to attend training.
While my primary motivation for standing up against the moral injustice of this shot mandate is my religious conviction, it is not my only reason. The COVID-19 shot is experimental with unknown side effects, both short and long term. New and dangerous symptoms related to this so-called vaccine are being discovered continuously, such as blood clots, heart issues, and many more. Additionally, it neither prevents the contraction or spread of the virus and offers dramatically less protection than natural immunity, which federal agencies such as the DOD and DOA have refused to acknowledge.
Finally, we are mandated to risk these unknown side effects to “protect” against a virus that has only a fraction of a percent of being detrimental to young, fit individuals, the very demographic that comprises the majority of the military. Offering this shot to the public transparently, as an experimental remedy, would be logical and permissible, but government mandates [requiring] that individuals subject themselves to experimental injections is tyranny. It is reminiscent of Josef Mengele, one of Hitler’s elites who conducted experiments on members of society thought to be inferior, or even the Tuskegee Syphilis Study conducted by the CDC on our own American citizens, citizens thought to be “disposable” by government agencies.
Our fighting men and women are not disposable. Human beings are not disposable. While many of us have beliefs, health issues, or family situations that have compelled us to opt to take this unproven shot, it is an injustice for any government agency to force it upon its citizens. It is tyranny to coerce individuals to violate their moral convictions or gamble with their health for a political agenda or to line the pockets of big pharmaceutical companies and their contributors.
It is an abomination to deny an honorable discharge to Soldiers who choose loyalty to their God and their beliefs over a government mandate.
Soldiers who have risked all, sacrificed, and fought for their country, Soldiers with years of honorable service, are now facing a less than honorable discharge if their medical or religious accommodation requests are denied.
Stand with us against this injustice!
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This commentary is by a Tennessee National Guard Captain.
