Chris Lange, FISM News
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While most of the country has been moving on from the COVID-19 pandemic, with states either lifting or phasing out public health mandates, U.S. military members continue to face discharge and other punitive measures for refusing to get vaccinated. A group of Marines recently shared the devastating impact the mandate has had on their careers and personal lives in a video that aired Sunday at an anti-vaccine-mandate rally in Los Angeles, as reported by the Gateway Pundit.
In a rare public display by active-duty members, six Marine pilots shared details about the toll their opposition to the mandate has taken on their lives. Each faces discharge from the military and loss of benefits and some have received disciplinary action.
The video opens with Marine Lt. Col. Scott Duncan, a former Top Gun instructor and F-35 pilot, who said he had finally achieved his goal of commanding an F-35 squadron but later learned the decision had been rescinded due to his opposition to the vaccine mandate.
“I was competitively selected to command an F-35 squadron. That achievement took 18 years and seven months and was recently taken away because my religious accommodation and appeal both came back denied,” he said.
Marine Capt. Joshua Hoppe, an MV-22 Osprey pilot with over nine years of service, said that he is facing removal from service, misconduct charges, and the loss of educational benefits that transfer to his children if the mandate is not lifted.
“This mandate infringes on our religious freedoms and is being unlawfully enforced,” Hoppe said. “I have sworn an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I will not abandon that oath,” he added.
The other pilots shared similar stories of having their religious accommodation requests denied without sufficient explanation and being singled out for their opposition to the vaccine mandate with punitive measures, discrimination, and harassment.
Marine Capt. Nick Morrison, an active duty Marine F-35 pilot with just under six years of service, said he is facing discharge after his religious accommodation request was denied.
“Absent intervention from our judicial branch or our senior military leadership, I face involuntary separation from our beloved corps after my religious accommodation request was wrongfully denied,” Morrison said.
“These injustices being carried against an officer are likely occurring at even greater scale to our junior Marines,” said Marine Capt. Nick Morrison, an active duty Marine F-35 pilot whose religious accommodation request was also denied.
“When we took the voluntary oath of service, we did not surrender our constitutional right to exercise religious freedom,” Morrison said.
Capt. Catherine Stark, the Marine Corps’ first female F-35C Lightning II pilot, said in the video that she has been “personally targeted and discriminated against” over the past year for refusing the vaccine.
“I pray to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that the military can reverse the mandate and respect my religious and moral beliefs as well as my legitimate health concerns,” she said with emotion.
“These stories you’ve heard today are ours. However, it bears repeating that we stand today for tens of thousands of service members in similar circumstances or even worse,” said Marine Lt. Col. Hank Hortenstine. The helicopter instructor pilot, who repaired wing aircraft with three combat deployments, said he has been “grounded” for refusing the vaccine and is currently being processed for punitive discharge.
“We stand today for truth, religious liberty, and in fulfillment of the oath that we took to support and defend the Constitution,” Hortenstine said.
Service members that have been discharged over noncompliance with the vaccine mandate as of this week include more than 1,500 Marines, 100 soldiers, approximately 250 airmen, and approximately 800 sailors, according to reporting by Breitbart, with thousands more expected to be discharged.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued the vaccine mandate for all active duty service members and those in Ready Reserve on Aug. 24, 2021. The following month, Congressional Republicans introduced the COVID-19 Vaccine Dishonorable Discharge Prevention Act in response to the Department of Defense’s (DoD) guidance to discharge service members “not with honors” who decline vaccination. At this time, it is unclear whether the bill has been referred to a committee, according to GovTrack.
FISM previously reported that Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said that service members could apply for religious exemptions but would have to provide validation to be considered eligible. According to the mandate, anyone who declines a vaccination without an approved exemption will face “relief of duties or discharge.”