Majority of Troops Fired for Refusing COVID Vaccine were Given General DischargeBy Eric Lendrum
April 29, 2022
Of the roughly 3,400 American troops who were removed from service due to refusal of the COVID-19 vaccine, about 70 percent were labeled as general discharges, which leaves the door open to their return if they eventually do receive the vaccine.
According to Military Times, the “general discharge” label also allows the individuals in question to retain access to their veterans benefits. At a recent hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Pentagon officials said that the remaining 30 percent of discharges were categorized as honorable. There was no explanation given for which circumstances saw some determined to be honorable and others considered general.
“I can tell you there are no operational impacts across the force for readiness,” said Marine Corps Lt. Gen. David Ottignon during his testimony. “There’s no one community that has signaled an instance where a [leader], an NCO or another enlisted Marine is not present because of that.”
The Marine Corps has seen the highest amount of discharges over the vaccine mandate, with 1,968 total members kicked out, amounting to nearly 1 percent of the total force of 215,000. Of those nearly 2,000, about 20 percent received an honorable discharge. Overall, 97 percent of Marines have been vaccinated.
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Source:
https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/29/majority-of-troops-fired-for-refusing-covid-vaccine-were-given-general-discharge/
