I’m surprised that other people are surprised. Around 12,000 Air Force personnel have refused the COVID vaccination and will fail the November 2nd deadline. I’m not deeply upset. While it might become an issue, it isn’t a problem: it’s an opportunity. This is a powerful and convenient loyalty test.
The Air Force policy requires members without an exemption to get COVID shots, and they’ve allowed very few exemptions. That’s much like the military vaccination policies on influenza, smallpox, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, tetanus, and a host of dangerous and contagious illnesses. Military personnel work in close quarters and travel to countries where food contamination and insect-borne diseases are common. Nobody questioned vaccinations because they make sense.
And then we got ex-President Donald Trump and his Republican Death Cult.
So, consider the 12,000 Air Force people who said ‘no’ to COVID shots. The military command structure up to the civilian Secretary of Defense ordered mandatory COVID vaccinations. On the other side are Trump and his Dancing Republicanettes. After getting their own vaccinations, they preach against COVID shots for everyone else. How many cumulative hours have they spent spouting hysterical strings of convoluted, patently false, bad-faith arguments? I try not to count.
The Air Force has the military command structure, science, the CDC, best practices, and common sense on their side. Trump and the Trotskyites rail against safe vaccinations without facts or the slightest evidence.
What to do about the unvaccinated service members? Most in the military got their shots without a struggle; the Trump loyalists are only a small fraction. The Air Force leaders worry whether some areas have higher numbers of the disloyal. Removing them might affect some functions. Because it’s too late for the unvaccinated to meet the deadline, they’re looking at alternatives that keep those members out of active service roles long enough to completely their required immunizations.
Why? This is our chance to separate the good soldiers from the untrustworthy. Do they really want Trumpists embedded in critical locations? We know of 12,000 Air Force members who did not obey their military command. They chose their Trumpian tribal identity as their higher loyalty, not their fellow service members, superiors, the military, the American people, or the nation. Yes, this was a loyalty test, and they failed.
Contemplate, briefly, the January Sixth insurrection. Long before it started, U.S. Capitol Police leadership underequipped the Capitol Police officers protecting the Capitol. When the widely predicted antidemocratic violence started, those same leaders joined White House goons to hold back military reinforcements. They ensured that the Trump zealots, bellowing their murder threats and searching for hostages, could overrun the unreinforced Capitol Police positions. They were colluding in the insurrection. Internal subversion is a real threat.
Will Trump call for another insurrection? Everyone predicts he will. (FYI: We all know that Republicans are tearing out anything that will restrain their next insurrection. Our leaders are painfully aware of the threat. And yet they aren’t preparing. WTF?)
Anyway, my answer about the unvaccinated service members is easy: fire all their asses. Discharge every damn unvaccinated Trumpian acolyte with prejudice. It isn’t for revenge, it’s common sense. Every member who refused a simple vaccination chose to disobey their senior officers and their oaths in favor of a nebulous tribal membership statement. They disobeyed without good cause and raised their party membership over their commanding officers. We know the names and locations of 12,000 Air Force members who are not reliable.
Every one of them has just failed a critical loyalty test, and we should expect similar choices going forward. They aren’t assets to the military anymore.
