House Armed Service Committee (HASC) Republicans announced on X this morning that service members and military families will be prioritized in the FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The FY25 #NDAA will put our servicemembers and military families FIRST
— Armed Services GOP (@HASCRepublicans) May 6, 2024
For many, last year’s NDAA was an abject disappointment, failing to recognize Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s 2021 shot mandate was unlawful. It remains to be seen whether this year’s version will call a spade a spade or hide behind similar weak language.
One thing is certain: Thousands of service members, veterans, and their supporters will be watching, laser-focused on the statement made by HASC. Earlier this year, 231 active service members and veterans signed the Declaration of Military Accountability (DMA)—an open letter seeking accountability over the harm caused by the implementation and enforcement of the now-rescinded COVID-19 shot mandate. Nearly 34,000 others, including civilians, have pledged their support alongside the original signatories of the letter.
Brad Miller, a former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who previously served as a battalion commander in the 101st Airborne Division, is one of the original signatories of the DMA and a voice for accountability. In October 2021, after nearly 19 years of honorable service, he was unjustly relieved of command for refusing the jab.
For service members like Miller, Congress, and DOD must acknowledge the unlawfulness and harmful effects of the once-mandated COVID-19 injection.
Neither Congress nor @DeptofDefense are putting *our servicemembers and military families FIRST” until they acknowledge the covid-19 shot mandate was unlawful and harmful to the health & readiness of the force. https://t.co/ngIeHG3uyL
— Brad Miller (@BradMiller1010) May 6, 2024
“The mandate has disillusioned untold numbers of American service members and their families,” Miller told The Gateway Pundit. “Many have come to feel alienated from their former comrades-in-arms.”
“Service members suffered coercion and the deprivation of rights all because they refused to subject themselves to a shot that many believed was potentially harmful,” Miller explained.
“The impacts of the mandate have been far-reaching and continue to plague our force,” he said. For Dr. Crisanna Shackelford, “the mandate for COVID-19 injections represented a forced toxic exposure with catastrophic implications for our national security and defense readiness.”
Miller wholeheartedly agrees with her conclusion, also adding that “aside from the myriad physical problems that have resulted from this toxic exposure, many troops and veterans now also endure lingering moral injuries.”
“In other words,” he said, “they witnessed military leaders act in direct opposition to the exact values the military purports to hold in the highest regard: honor, integrity, courage, and more.”
He also pointed out that “Service members witnessed their superiors and/or peers violate their oaths to the Constitution.” Interestingly, he added, “Some service members even feel conflicted about their own role perhaps in ensuring that others complied with the mandate.”
For this reason, Miller said, “They may now feel they operated in ways that violated not just the law but their own sense of morality.” And according to him, “These feelings, which can lead to a sense of guilt, shame, or even disgust towards oneself or others, are often the result of moral injury.”
“It is no wonder that our ability to both retain quality troops and recruit more to join the ranks has suffered,” he said. “These retention and recruitment problems are likely to continue until the military can successfully account for these severe and widespread injustices and right itself moving forward.”
For the tens of thousands of service members and veterans watching, it remains to be seen if the FY2025 NDAA will offer the appropriate language to right these wrongs. Will the Armed Services GOP really “put our servicemembers and military families FIRST?”
The post Service Members Are Waiting For Congress and Department of Defense to Acknowledge That the COVID-19 Shot Mandate Was Unlawful and Harmful appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.