Several General Assembly members in both the State House and State Senate have shared a text message with The Tennessee Star that purports to be a statement from Governor Bill Lee’s office that says the governor is working on the issue and specifically mentions “religious and personal exemptions.”
The text message reads:
From the Governor’s office:
We take seriously the religious and personal exemptions requested by members who are not part of the 93% who are vaccinated in accordance with DoD policy. We have no plans to terminate these members based on their status and have asked DoD to approve their individual exemption requests.
The Star reached out to Lee staffers on Tuesday, but the governor’s office did not confirm the authenticity of the message by press time.
The Department of Defense additionally did not confirm that Lee had spoken with them.
Several affected Tennessee National Guardsmen who are due to be fired on June 30 for refusing to comply with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate were not impressed after being presented with the message by legislators.
“We’re not sure what Governor Lee says he’s doing, but the one thing that is clear is he is not doing anything to help us,” one person said.
Several others used the words, “useless gesture.”
An officer elaborated, “This text, if true, just looks like a useless gesture so he can say he looked into the matter and then he’ll issue a public statement saying that he did everything he could. This message does not contain anything about ordering his adjutant general to keep us on, a public condemnation of the vaccine mandate, or a statement saying he’s going to ask the Tennessee Attorney General Slatery to file suit on our behalf.”
“That statement, if it is real, also did not say anything about the hundreds of National Guardsmen who did not apply for an exemption because the DoD was not granting them,” he said.
“Governor Lee needs to publicly give us his support and to vow to do everything in his power, including asking for a Special Session of the General Assembly and ordering his attorney general to file suit, in order to help his men. He is our Commander-in-Chief and we need his help before we all get fired,” one guardsman said.
State Senate Paul Rose told the The Star via email shortly after the message started making the rounds, “I was glad to hear that Governor Lee is taking this situation very seriously and has no plans to terminate these guardsmen. His office has also reached out to the Department of Defense to ask for the guardsmen’s exemption requests to be approved. I hope that these exemptions are granted so that these brave individuals may continue their service to our state.”
Other members of the General Assembly were confused by the message.
One legislator said, “That message was so full of word salad that I still don’t know what Governor Lee was saying. Is he saying that he’s not firing them but the Biden administration is? Is he saying that he’s just not firing them and is taking steps to stop their dismissal? Is he begging the Department of Defense to grant vaccine exceptions that he knows they are not going to grant. I just don’t know what he’s doing.”
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]. Follow Aaron on GETTR, Twitter, Truth Social, and Parler.
Photo “Bill Lee” by Bill Lee. Background Photo “Tennessee National Guard Members” by Tennessee National Guard.Â
Tell Lee that the guardsmen are refugees and illegals and he will act immediately.
It is a shame and a disgrace that Lee and his cronies have not put a stop to this.
Unreal that we are even here at this moment. These brave men and women are willing to take their chances with flying hot lead, in the name of defending you and your liberty here at home, and they’re not allowed to take their chances with a respiratory virus that has a 99% recovery rate? It just doesn’t all make sense. I sensed malfeasance and no good from day one. I can assure you that the Russians and the Chinese are not afraid of our timid little forces at this time.