U.S. military members of the National Guard and Reserves learned that they are not exempt from President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
In recent years, Biden and the Democrats have been forcing men and women serving in military uniform to be injected with the new COVID-19 vaccine drug.
In December 2022, Republicans fought back and blocked the National Defense Authorization Act unless Covid vaccine mandates for military personnel were removed.
As a result, the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act ordered the Department of Defense to rescind the order requiring full COVID-19 vaccination for military service members.
Biden signed the bill into law in December.
According to an update to the U.S. Army’s policy, it says the provision does not address a second memo from November 2021 applying the vaccine mandate to the National Guard and Reserves.
The Texas National Guard continues to patrol the Rio Grande to detect & stop cartel activity & illegal border crossings.
Texas continues to secure the border as Biden refuses to enforce federal law. pic.twitter.com/YxIrERbFNV
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) January 10, 2023
This order has prevented unvaccinated members mobilized under state, rather than federal, orders from being paid.
The Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, has investigated this issue by speaking with Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Terence M. Kelley.
Kelley said, “While the Department of Defense is developing further guidance, the Army is suspending the processing and initiation of involuntary separations based solely on a Soldier’s refusal to comply with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.”
According to the Army’s publicly released data, the National Guard has a 91 percent vaccination rate with 5,440 troops refusing the vaccine.
Texas National Guard are installing additional layers of razor wire in high-traffic areas for illegal crossings at the Texas-Mexico border.
They’re working around the clock to secure the border in the federal government’s absence. pic.twitter.com/MxwBW95Auw
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) January 2, 2023
The Army Reserves has a 92 percent vaccination rate and 4,507 refusals.
Retired Lieutenant General Rod Bishop has spoken out by saying the vaccine mandate for the National Guard by calling it “egregious.”
“This is pretty egregious,” Lieutenant General Bishop said.
“I feel fairly certain that most of America, and certainly most of the congressmenn that supported that lifting of the mandate, thought it applied to the National Guard,” he added.
