The US Military Repealed the Vaccine Mandate – Why Are Service Members Still Being Punished?

An Air Force veteran who is six months from retirement could lose her pension for not getting the coronavirus vaccine even though the military vaccine mandate was repealed last month. Lt. Col. Brandi King, a 19-year Air Force reservist, said Wednesday on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” that she has been placed in a military “purgatory” after her multiple exemption requests were denied, even though she’s allergic to two ingredients in the vaccine and also sought an exemption on religious grounds. “Right now I’m just in a holding tank of sorts, a type of purgatory, until I phase out of the military altogether,” King said. “It’s a little loophole that Air Force Reserve Command uses, and really all reserve commands use, to send those of us that they don’t want to serve for whatever reason into a holding tank until we can just basically disappear,” she said. Essentially, King said the Air Force is holding her pension hostage for refusing to get jabbed. As a result, she said she has “no means by which to gain income or ‘points’ toward retirement or health care at the moment.”

An Air Force pilot could lose her pension after 19 years of service because of vaccine requirements. WATCH: pic.twitter.com/roQk3SOFPu

— Brian Kilmeade (@kilmeade) January 18, 2023

This punitive measure is absurd since the Biden administration repealed its military vaccine mandate in December amid volcanic backlash from many service members, including Navy SEALS. In a discrimination complaint filed in October 2021, King said her superiors badgered her not to apply for a religious exemption and even threatened her with court martial and dishonorable discharge. “I was called by my supervisor four separate times from 11 September until 28 September 2021,” she wrote. “Each time we spoke, he urged me not to file for religious accommodation because he wanted to keep me in the Air Force, wanted me to receive my retirement pension, and he did not believe religious accommodations would be granted.” King continued: “He told me I could not go to the Inactive Ready Reserves when I requested to do so, but instead told me that I would be subject to court martial, dishonorable discharge, along with Article 92 punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) if I was not granted accommodation and refused the Covid-19 vaccine.” Article 92 punishment is a bad-conduct discharge that could result in the forfeiture of all pay and confinement for six months. That’s a severe punishment for a longtime veteran who objected to the vaccine on both medical and religious grounds. Even more astounding is that King said she tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies from previously contracting the disease but was still denied a vaccine exemption. Form AFI 48-110, a military regulation, specifically states that service members “who can prove immunity from diseases that require vaccinations do not have to be vaccinated,” Just the News reported. Ironically, King works in the Air Force chief of staff’s new diversity program, which is supposed to defend religious freedom. It’s the height of liberal hypocrisy that today’s “woke” military pays lip service to promoting “diversity” while punishing someone for exercising her religious beliefs.

On the left is the U.S. government’s first non-binary senior official and on the right is the Army’s first openly transgender officer.

One was charged for stealing a woman’s luggage at an airport and the other was indicted for selling military secrets to Russia. pic.twitter.com/TGmiDB8ZUa — Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 29, 2022

“Diversity is a … hill they want to die on, but they refuse to include the diverse religious population,” King’s attorney, R. Davis Younts, told Just the News. “The entire movement is at best hypocritical, and at worst, a farce.” This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.