Senate Democrats last week shot down the House amendment to its version of the National Defense Authorization Act that would have reinstated armed forces members who were let go for refusing to receive the COVID-19 "vaccine." More than 8,300 just said no to the shot, many of them for reasons of religious conviction.
This comes as many young people turn up their noses at military service for a variety of reasons, including the teaching of history in schools to the military's embrace of "woke" policies. In addition, sometimes young Americans aren't eligible for service because of their own substandard fitness, a new Pentagon report showed last fall.
With all of those factors in play, the Senate voted 53-46 last week against a measure set forth by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) that would have welcomed back veterans who were let go because of vaccine consciousness.
"It's hypocrisy, and it's foolishness," Daniel Schmid, the senior litigation attorney with Liberty Counsel said on Washington Watch Friday.
This comes amid heightened rhetoric from President Joe Biden and his administration against Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama), who has placed a hold on Department of Defense promotions until Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reverses his policy of using taxpayer funds to help service members and their families pay for travel and leave time to get abortions.
Biden accuses Tuberville of endangering military readiness and national security.
According to Schmid, many of the banned men and women would say yes to the opportunity to return. "Many of them are willing to come back in and say, 'I would love my position back. I signed up to fight. I want to keep fighting,'" Schmid told show host Jody Hice.
Instead, the military in 2022 received $2 billion to assist in the battle against alleged climate change. That was one of seven "woke initiatives" identified in 2022 by The Daily Caller.
Payback doesn't end at termination
Schmid reported the "recruiting crisis is of epic proportions" currently. "We have a problem. Many young people look at it and say, 'Well, look what they did to people who were just like me,'" he shared.
What those service members did didn't end with termination. Many, in fact, have been forced to repay signing bonuses. Schmid said the military has even sought to recover the cost of training for some fired service members.
"You have these young men and women who are eager and willing to join back up in the forces – [but] they can't come back in," said the attorney. "[The military] won't let them in only because they exercised sincere religious convictions. Now they seek to actively punish them for doing so. It's doing little more than pouring salt in their constitutional injury."
That stubborn mindset may be doing even more than that. AFN reported last week that, according to a retired Air Force officer, the woke policies being imposed on the military by the Biden administration have put the nation's defense forces back on the path toward reinstituting the draft.
