Gaetz calls for reinstating service members booted over vaxx status: ‘I see the impact on our readiness’

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) is standing up for armed service members who were purged for refusing the COVID vaccine, asserting that they are needed for the nation’s military readiness.

The conservative firebrand from Florida is getting ready to introduce an amendment that will protect service members who refuse the jab, reinstate those who were dismissed with the same rank and grade they previously held after they said they would not get the vaccine, and award back-pay and benefits to members who were booted from service. The amendment will be put forth when the House Armed Services Committee marks up the National Defense Authorization Act

“I see the impact on our readiness from these mandates,” Gaetz asserted during an interview with The Daily Wire on Tuesday. “We are hundreds of pilots short in the Air Force and we’ve lost a number of pilots as a consequence of these mandates.”

Gaetz is not only getting pushback on his amendments from Democrats, he claims that Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), who is the leading Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, is supporting the enforced military vaccine mandate as well.

“I hope that number reaches 100% quickly,” Rogers commented in a statement concerning the number of vaccinated service members in August 2021.

“That is not my view,” Gaetz stated regarding Rogers’ remarks, “and I doubt that’s the view of a majority of Republicans.”

The Army has discharged at least 742 active-duty soldiers as of late May for refusing to get the jab, according to Military.com. The number more than doubled from the previous month.

According to the outlet, 3,416 general officers were reprimanded for refusing to get the COVID vaccine. That is the kiss of death for a military career evidently. The Army only granted nine out of 4,428 religious exemption requests.

“These are kitchen table issues in my district because I represent the district that has the highest concentration of active-duty military in the country,” Gaetz contended. He went on to elaborate that following the Afghanistan debacle, mental health and “a sense of self-worth” among many service members and veterans have deteriorated.

“I saw that in higher call volumes to our veterans’ service organizations,” he noted. “This has compounded that malaise and frustration in our ranks because people feel like they didn’t have any agency in how the military that they’ve given their lives to is making decisions.”

Gaetz went on to point out that many service members who submitted religious exemption requests received blanket form letter rejections.

“That violates the law,” he charged. “Each exemption is entitled to an individual review, and our service members were denied that opportunity with these blanket form-letter rejections.”

“Our military is not stronger today as a consequence of these vaccine mandate separations,” Gaetz proclaimed. “It’s weaker.”

“We deserve a military that is apolitical and doesn’t cater to any ideology other than American success,” he remarked. “Unfortunately, we now have a military that embraces Critical Race Theory, that teaches socialism at the National War College, and it drives out patriotic Americans who are religious and faith-based. Those features of the current military leadership are having a compounding negative effect on the fighting force and our nation’s readiness.”

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