Still a Reason Not to Join the Military
January 16, 2023
Although the DOD has officially dropped its Covid-19 vaccination mandate, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that “the Department will continue to promote and encourage Covid-19 vaccination for all service members” since “vaccination enhances operational readiness and protects the force.” Yet, “Austin’s decision leaves some discretion to commanders, allowing them to decide whether they can require vaccines in some circumstances, such as certain deployments overseas.” So the vaccine is still a reason not to join the military. And of course, there are scores of other reasons as well, as I have pointed out for the last 20 years.
Laurence M. Vance [send him mail] writes from central Florida. He is the author of The Free Society; War, Christianity, and the State: Essays on the Follies of Christian Militarism; War, Empire, and the Military: Essays on the Follies of War and U.S. Foreign Policy; King James, His Bible, and Its Translators, and many other books. His newest book is The U.S. Proxy War in Ukraine.
All in a Day's Work for the U.S. Military