Sidelined? Hundreds of Navy SEALS told they won't be deployed if they refuse COVID vaccine
With deadline looming, SEALs in limbo after seeking religious exemption to shot. Lawyer seeks 90-day reprieve to avoid military readiness crisis.
0:24 / 1:47
By John Solomon
Updated: September 20, 2021 - 4:06pm
Several hundred elite Navy SEALs are in danger of being blocked from deploying with their special operator teams by the Pentagon after failing to get a mandatory COVID vaccine, according to a lawyer and pastor counseling them.
The number involved in the dispute with the Pentagon amounts to as many as a quarter or more of all active duty SEALs, a loss that could impact military readiness since SEAL teams play an outsized role in modern military operations, their advocates told Just the News. Some SEALS were given a deadline this week for the vaccine and have sought a religious exemption.
"My clients include several Navy SEALs who are a small part of a large group of SEALs and other military members who are being asked to choose between their faith and their ability to serve our nation," said R. Davis Younts, a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force reserves and a JAG lawyer who is representing several of the special operators as a private lawyer. "They have been told that if they seek a religious accommodation, they likely will no longer be able to serve our country as Navy SEALs and been given an arbitrary deadline to comply with the vaccine mandate.
https://justthenews.com/government/security/hundreds-navy-seals-face-being-blocked-deployment-refusing-covid-vaccine
