US air force academy cadets denied commission over vaccine refusal

[Lasher]

Source: The Guardian

For refusing to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, three US air force academy cadets won’t be commissioned as military officers, though they will receive college degrees, a spokesperson for the school said Saturday.

Academy spokesperson Dean Miller said in a statement that the three cadets in question won’t be commissioned as air force officers “as long as they remain unvaccinated,” though they would get their bachelor’s of science degrees. The military branch had not decided yet whether to require the trio to reimburse the US for education costs in lieu of service, Miller said.

A fourth cadet who had initially turned down the shot providing protection against Covid-19 ultimately got vaccinated and would graduate with an officer’s commission, Miller added.

The air force academy didn’t identify any of the cadets who were denied officers’ commissions.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/21/us-air-force-academy-cadets-coronavirus

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The air force is the only US military academy that prevents its cadets from being commissioned as officers because of vaccine refusals.

[Mister Ed]

1. Insubordination is generally frowned upon in the military. n/t

[Lasher]

4. I didn't know until just now that all other US military academies grant their graduates commissions.

Regardless of Covid-19 vaccination status.

[brush]

22. Yep, and them doing it right off the bat shows they're going to be problems...

going forward.

[DURHAM D]

2. Good

[dweller]

3. I wouldn't want to see

ANY officer given a high rank if they can’t or won’t be responsible for the protection of the health of others or themselves …

Do they refuse all vaccines? Or just this one ?
Oh well, FAFO


✌🏻

[William Seger]

23. Anti-(covid)-vaxxers are right-wingnuts, period. Good ridance, and make 'em pay, too

[gladium et scutum]

5. Send them to an air base as an E-3

withhold money from their monthly salary to reimburse the taxpayers for their education. Then throw them out of the Air Force.

[The Polack MSgt]

20. EXACTLY

I spent 24 years of my life in the USAF.

The type of officers that these people would have become were the fucking bane of my life

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

50. Surely there's a base in the Aleutian Islands that need grounds keepers

for the golf course. Eareckson Air Station, located on Shemya Island, is operated by the newly minted Space Force, and I'm sure there are many opportunities for over-educated miscreants.

[sheshe2]

6. If they can't follow orders they don't belong there.

On admission, each appointee (except foreign cadets) will be required to take the following oath of allegiance:

I (name), having been appointed an Air Force cadet in the United States Air Force, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office of which I am about to enter. So Help Me God.

If an appointee refuses to take and subscribe to the oath, the appointment is terminated.

This country just mourned the 1 million Americans that died during the pandemic. They were asked a simple thing. To get vaccinated and help save lives. They refused.

[SuperCoder]

7. Good

No unvaccinated Trump supporters allowed.

[spudspud]

8. If they'd refuse an order to simply get a vaccine (of the dozens of others they get) you can be sure

that insubordination will follow along to any other order they happen to not like. Not suitable soldiers.

[Rebl2]

10. Exactly

[ColinC]

9. You work your butt off for a commission but throw it away because... Freedom?

[Mr.Bill]

14. If you're looking for freedom,

the military is not for you.

[ColinC]

15. Which makes the whole decision even weirder.

"I'm going to join an organization that controls every aspect of my life. But I don't like how they decided this one small, basically inconsequential thing (compared to all the other things they decided for me), so I'm going to throw away all I accomplished in it!! Freedom!! Yeah!!!"

Brainwashed idiots.

[Mr.Bill]

16. Yeah, you sign your life away

then refuse one vaccine.

[ColinC]

17. I cannot tell you half the things they put in my body.

And imagine that's the same with most of the other people. If anything they all likely knew MORE about the vaccine than all the other junk that was put in them.

[Sgent]

29. I know during

the first Iraq war everyone was getting smallpox, anthrax, and live polio vaccines which have much higher complication rates. I just don't get it.

[ColinC]

36. Yep.

[musclecar6]

41. Exactly

If you are in the military and refuse a legal direct order, they can throw you in jail. If you are insubordinate to a superior, they can throw you in jail. In those two examples in civilian life, they can fire you, but you do not go to jail. In the military, you are halfway between being a civilian and in prison. So if you go by the rules, everything if fine. If not you go directly to jail and do not pass go. HUGE difference.

[DanieRains]

11. What About The 20 Other Vaccines Soldiers Have To Get?

These anti-vaxxers are beyond stupid. All politics no patriotism.

Sad....

[Baked Potato]

12. They should definitely pay for the top notch education. Nt

[cstanleytech]

13. "not decided yet whether to require the trio to reimburse the US for education costs" WTF?

There should be no question over if they should have to pay it back because its their own choice not to take a vaccination just like everyone else that wants to join has to.

[ManiacJoe]

46. A standard alternative to paying the money back

is to serve 4-6 years as an enlisted. (Choice made by the service, not the individual.)

[cstanleytech]

49. I know since they apparently won't take a required vaccine that does

not look to be an option in which case they should make full restitution for the cost of their education not to mention they should pay an additional penalty imo for taking away spots that would have gone to people willing to serve like they were supposed to.

[IronLionZion]

18. Russian military needs more troops

just saying

[ashredux]

19. The only reason for that, refuse the vaccine, what is a political statement. I repeat political...

Good riddance

[Hoyt]

21. If they are that stupid, their education failed them.

[William Seger]

25. They're propagandized

... which is indistinguishable from stupidity.

[SunSeeker]

24. Good. They are a threat to military readiness. nt

[mountain grammy]

26. I just can't get over this

Refusing vaccines in the military. Trump has changed our world forever.

[GoldandSilver]

27. There should be no ambiguity...

The cadets were given plenty of warning. No sympathy from me.

[ZonkerHarris]

28. They made a choice and must reimburse.

[Mysterian]

30. Make them reimburse and serve a term as enlisted

There's plenty of rubber that needs scraped off the runways.

[ManiacJoe]

47. The normal choice is either-or.

(Service chooses, not the individual.)

[Paladin]

31. Good. (nt)

[iluvtennis]

32. As a USAF veteran, I support the denial of commissions. You need to know how to follow

orders in the military, and it was an order that they be vaccinated.

Good riddance.

[lark]

33. Navy, Army and Marines should follow the Air Force's lead!

Get rid of the believers of lies, they are not friends of America and I wouldn't trust them one bit in our uniforms to protect our real interests and not just those of the rw fascists they, in general, represent.

[Lasher]

37. From the linked article

Each of the 1,000 cadets who graduated from the US army’s academy at West Point, New York, on Saturday had been vaccinated and would be commissioned. Meanwhile, officials at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, told the Associated Press that none of its Navy or Marine Corps graduates would be blocked from their commissions due to vaccine refusal when their commencement ceremonies occur in the coming weeks.

This doesn't tell us what the West Point policy is, only that all of their graduating cadets had been vaccinated. It's even more vague at the Naval Academy. Notice, they didn't tell the AP that any of their cadets had refused to get vaccinated, only that none of them would be blocked for this reason.

[lark]

38. Freaking Navy, glad my dad is no longer part of that corrupt organization!

[niyad]

34. It is not bad enough that the AFA is a hotbed of fundievangelicals, now this. And

we pay for this.

[Paladin]

35. I bet they're shitting blue flames over this, in Colorado Springs.

A reliably rightwing outpost in a moderate state.

[dlk]

39. Refusing to follow orders is generally a dealbreaker in the military

The cadets refusing the vaccine are not fit for service.

[calimary]

40. GOOD!

[DemocraticPatriot]

42. GOOD!

The military requires all kinds of vaccinations, and anyone going to a military academy should be aware of that fact. If that could be a problem for you, then you should not apply and take the place of someone who is willing to obey orders.


If these people refused the COVID vaccine in particular, then they are probably right-wingers, and we don't need any more of those in our military.

[Lasher]

43. Look at the bright side.

It's not the bevy of legacy military inoculations, it's just the Coronavirus vaccines that some have come to see as an affront to their freedom. As such, they hate it just like they hate all of us Democrats. We know there are Proud Boys, Qanon, MAGAs, etc. in the military where they shouldn't be. In this case they are self-identifying and showing their own way to the door.

[artemisia1]

44. Those who can't follow orders shouldn't be giving them...

[The Grand Illuminist]

45. The military can be shadey.

Make one wonder if they got commission in secret.

[Emile]

48. Failure to obey a direct order is unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman!

They should be given a college debt bill and forced to repay us tax payers for wasting our money!