Jack Reed: “I oppose the amendment because one of the fundamental aspects of the military is the ability of a senior officer to…”

“I oppose the amendment because one of the fundamental aspects of the military is the ability of a senior officer to issue an order and the willingness of a subordinate to accept that order. What we are dealing with here are individuals, without appropriate justification, refusing to carry out a lawful order. Now, the vaccination policies of the military are rather robust. I think there are more than a dozen required vaccinations, and someone who just cavalierly dismisses that requirement and then claims that they should not somehow be held accountable, I think is wrong. But this goes to the fabric of the military. You must obey lawful orders, and all of these were lawful orders. Mandatory vaccination, again, is not a new, novel technique. Another aspect of this is, this went right to the heart of readiness. We can all recall when an aircraft carrier in the Pacific had to be evacuated because of COVID aboard the ship, and the ship was actually out of commission for several months. That is a readiness issue that is pretty obvious. There are procedures to be reinstated in the military. They have been in effect for many, many years. There is a board procedure. You can bring forth evidence that your dismissal was not appropriate, and that is being pursued now, I presume, by many people--or at least some.…”