Thousands of Air Guard, Reserves don't meet vaccine deadline

[turbinetree]

Source: Associated Press

By LOLITA C. BALDOR 6 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 11,000 members of the Air National Guard and Reserve did not meet Thursday’s deadline to get the COVID-19 vaccine, and could begin to face consequences if they don’t get the mandated shots or receive an exemption.

Air Guard members who report for their monthly drill this weekend will be allowed to participate and will be paid — whether they are vaccinated or not, but those without shots will have the opportunity to get the vaccine when they report to their base, according to Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek.

There are about 107,000 Air Guard members and 68,000 in the Reserves, and about 3,500 have received medical or administrative exemptions. The unvaccinated total, however, could be a bit lower than the data show so far. Officials have cautioned that the information for the Guard and Reserves may lag, as some of the citizen airmen could have gotten shots at local pharmacies and have not yet filed their data with the service.


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-cb18d5a4831eafbb4161ff4dc9d89b3f

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Just give them dishonorable discharges....loss of rank and pay.....

[BlueIdaho]

1. I'm with you...

No one is above the law. Period.

[TheBlackAdder]

11. I guess they don't want their socialist paychecks after all.

[walkingman]

2. Adios - we have been needing to cut the military budget for years.

[Marthe48]

3. Just heard that MI NG is getting deployed

to assist with the Covid surge there. I'd want to have all the protection I could get. Talk about serving in harm's way

I heard the news on CBS radio news. Here is a link from another source:
https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/0,9753,7-406-98158-522157--,00.html

[paleotn]

4. Cut them lose.

Follow a lawful order or get out.

[HUAJIAO]

5. Typical stupid, misleading AP article

It SHOULD read.. "ONLY 11,000 Air National Guard and Reserve did not meet Thursday’s deadline to get the COVID-19 vaccine,

That's only something loke 6% !!!!!!!!!

[TexasBushwhacker]

16. That's fair. That's actually a better % than the general pop n/t

[OAITW r.2.0]

6. Give them the boot.

The collective IQ of the Guard will go up.

[gfwzig]

7. activate them, transfer them into active Air Force duty, immunize them, then court martial them.

[mountain grammy]

8. Yes, I agree.

Dishonorable discharge..

[oasis]

9. Turn in your gear MAGAt cultists. We can do fine without you.

Bye, bye

[Lithos]

10. Look

I would avoid being too rash.

No, I would not give in to anyone who holds "true-believer" status. But what I would do is take advantage of the opportunity to make these people face some hard truths about the world.

Or rather - this is a learning opportunity. You will not convince the "true-believers" - boot them out - they are ideologues who psychological should never be a part of any organization - military, police, etc. But I suspect there exists a majority of low-information people who need to be given the opportunity to live outside of their normal bubble.

Show them the pictures, tell them the hard facts. Tell them that they could easily be part of a response team which is around COVID patients and that getting infected will not only threaten themselves and their teammates, but also the mission.

The military was one of the major places people learned about race relations and the power of diversity, it can also be a major force in educating the low-information person.

[monkeyman1]

12. this -

I was told when I went in the military you don't have to a damn thing your told -but we'll make you wish you did ! and they were not bull-shitting around ! these people will find out !! it's guaranteed ! just ask a veteran ? not much more to add ! U'S' VETERAN OF 3 TOUR'S IN V.N. !

[madville]

14. Those days are long gone

I did over 20 years more recently and it’s a much kinder and gentler military these days. You have to consider everyones’ feelings and hold their hand. No one is getting beat down, hazed, or harassed over this, most likely it will just be a bunch of administrative separations (basically just some paperwork ending their affiliation) due to it being reservists in this case.

[madville]

13. No one is getting a dishonorable discharge over this

1. It comes nowhere close to what a dishonorable discharge is typically used for (murder, sexual assault, desertion, etc).

2. Most of these Reservists and Guard members are probably not on active orders at the moment, therefore they can’t be “discharged” because they aren’t in an active status to be discharged from.

3. They aren’t going to bring thousands of reserve members onto active duty for the sole purpose of disciplining them, it would cost tens of millions in travel, lodging, per diem, pay and benefits not to mention the administrative man hours the commands and justice system would have to expend.

4. They basically aren’t meeting their medical readiness requirements, as reservists we had these for lots of things, annual dental exam, tetanus shot every 10 years, HIV test every two years, etc. There are two realistic paths this could go, they are either administratively separated if they don’t meet readiness within a given timeframe (which is basically just some paperwork and is non-punitive) or they are placed in the IRR (Inactive reserve) until their current enlistment expires. There are some other administrative mechanisms for specific scenarios as well, but they aren’t punitive either.

5. They could recoup prorated portions of any bonuses given but this is generally not going to be too much for reservists. Like if someone got a $10,000 for a specific MOS for 4 years obligated service, they only give half up front then spread the rest out over the remaining years. So depending on the timing they might not have to give much back unless they had just recently received the first half.

[pfitz59]

15. Fire them

the military is bloated as is