EANGUS Call-To-Action; Suspension of Discharges for Vaccine Refusal Suspension of Discharges for Vaccine Refusal

During the EANGUS National Conference held in Little Rock, Arkansas, in August 2022, a delegate from the Alabama National Guard Association made the following motion from the floor of our General Session:  

Motion: Alabama would like to make a motion that EANGUS request the Department of Defense to suspend discharging unvaccinated service members until a Supreme Court ruling can be made on the issue of mandatory implementation of experimental medicine. This motion was amended and recommended being referred to the Executive Council.

Discussion: The motion was subsequently reviewed by the EANGUS Executive Council, and a majority of the council supports the following. The basis for this motion is to protect our force structure and combat capability consistent with the 2001 and 2004 Federal Court rulings that ended mandatory military vaccinations for Anthrax and the many Federal Court rulings that currently exist to suspend mandatory vaccinations on personnel working in various industries across this nation. Making our troops decide between getting the COVID-19 vaccine or their careers is wrong and unconstitutional and violates trust in the document they have all sworn to defend. We predict that if there is no compromise on this issue, it will continue to breach the trust of senior subordinate relationships. In addition, it will critically interrupt the military services’ force structure and combat readiness. 

After consulting with numerous commissioned and enlisted unit leaders across the country, EANGUS is inclined to believe that the Department of Defense’s response to COVID-19 refusals is inappropriate based on current statistical knowledge and should stop all discharges immediately to protect force structure. If the Supreme Court rules that requiring mandatory vaccination of U.S. military forces is constitutional in the future, DOD can reintroduce its position at that time. EANGUS respectfully calls for Legislation to stop discharges and the stoppage of pay of all uniformed and civilian personnel due to their personal decision to refuse the COVID-19 vaccine. If there continues to be no compromise on this issue, we will lose thousands of good, competent, and qualified Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines. In addition to that loss, we will continue to interrupt senior subordinate relationships within all ranks of military service in an environment where recruiting has already proven to be an unprecedented challenge.

For more information regarding this issue or any other National Guard issues, please do not hesitate to contact Kevin Hollinger, Legislative Director, at kevin@eangus.org or contact him directly at (202) 670-1826