TYB
Strongly worded letters incoming…
Republicans demand Naval Academy transparency after unvaxxed midshipmen allegedly denied diplomas
November 30, 2022
A group of House Republicans is probing the Navy after uncovering evidence that the US Naval Academy (USNA) is keeping midshipmen from graduating if they sought religious accommodations to the Pentagon’s COVID vaccine mandate.
In a letter to Naval Vice Adm. Sean Buck Tuesday, lawmakers led by Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., said denying diplomas to otherwise qualified midshipmen is a waste of the country’s four-year investment in those people and will hurt military readiness at a time when all service branches are having trouble with recruitment and retention.
“Commandant of Midshipmen and their Judge Advocate General Officer (JAG) are denying Midshipmen from graduating due to their refusal to take the COVID-19 vaccination on religious grounds and are held as a delayed graduate until the injunction preventing the separation of Naval personnel is lifted,” the lawmakers charged.
A preliminary injunction issued by a district court in early 2022 delayed the ability of the Navy to separate unvaccinated service members seeking religious accommodations. The case, which is now a class-action lawsuit, is still in the courts.
The lawmakers said a constituent who is a current USNA student reported to them that they were denied a diploma after their religious accommodation request was rejected.
“We’re seeing massive people being kicked out of academies and kicked out of their military service, all for the reason of refusing the vaccine [for] religious exemptions. One, it’s completely un-American. And two, it is not the best for the safety and security of the American people,” Steube told Fox News Digital.
He noted that the USNA student’s inability to receive a diploma has set them “back significantly” as credits do not easily transfer from the academy to other colleges. Additionally, they put in four full years of time and effort, on the taxpayer dime, to no benefit of the US.
Steube also said that the vaccine mandate “absolutely” is impacting readiness and recruitment.
“And it is no coincidence that as they’ve made all of these atrocious decisions that individuals are not going to sign up,” said the congressman, who said one Air Force Academy applicant in his district pulled out due to the “woke” policies in the military that he disagreed with.
“[The military is] losing good candidates for the academies, and they’re losing good Americans who want to serve their country simply because they’re pushing wokeness and pronouns and transgenderism into our military, and they’re pushing vaccine mandates onto our military, which is affecting the safety and security of the American people,” continued Steube, who noted that he will not vote for the annual National Defense Authorization Act if it promotes a vaccine mandate or woke policies.
Sauce/more: https://nypost.com/2022/11/30/republicans-demand-naval-academy-transparency-after-unvaxxed-midshipmen-allegedly-denied-diplomas/
Sean Buck, the Vice Admiral Superintendent of the US Naval Academy received a letter about the request. (picrel)
Looks excited, must've blown a tranny…
not te ferret..
Bang Ding Ow!