Judge Prevents DOD From Discharging Two Service Members.

A federal judge decided Feb. 2 that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and all other military authorities are prohibited from taking punitive action against two specific service members seeking religious exemptions from the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

In a 10-page order, U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday, a George H. W. Bush appointee, stated that the Marine Corps lieutenant colonel and Navy Command officer were “wrongfully denied a religious exemption from COVID-19 vaccination.”

According to court records, the lieutenant colonel was told she would be penalized starting Feb. 2 if she did not receive one dosage of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Meanwhile, the Navy officer was informed that if he did not begin a COVID-19 immunization series by Feb. 3, he would be removed from command of his ship.

Both of their religious exemption applications were declined, and their appeals were also denied.

Top military officials determined that the commander’s religious beliefs are genuine and that being forced to get vaccinated would be “substantially burdensome,” but that granting the exemption request “would have a predictable and detrimental effect on the readiness of you and the Sailors who serve alongside you.”

In the instance of the Marines, the lieutenant colonel’s details her religious aversion to any vaccine made with fetal cell lines originated from becoming pregnant as a result of a rape, she said in a sworn declaration.

Despite each sailor getting their request endorsed by their unit’s commanding officer, and each sailor submitting “distinct, personal accounts of our religious practices and the method by which receipt of the COVID-19 vaccine would violate those tenets,” she added, each sailor’s application was denied.

A Marine official questioned whether having a COVID-19 vaccine would materially burden a religious belief, according to the denial letter, because the same objections the lieutenant colonel raised “could be made for every FDA approved vaccine [she] has received” in the military.

Even if a major hardship could be established, the official stated that “the government’s compelling interests in military readiness and force health and safety” warranted the denial of the request.

According to Merryday, the judges, both the Navy and the Marine Corps’ rejections forgot to mention that the two branches had individually given hundreds of medical exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine obligation.

He said the case’s record “creates a strong inference that the services are discriminatorily and systematically denying religious exemptions without a meaningful and fair hearing and without the showing required under RFRA (while simultaneously granting medical exemptions and allowing unvaccinated persons to continue in service without adverse consequences).” The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA, is a law that plaintiffs and defendants interpret differently.

The military has not established, and likely cannot establish,”that permitting the relatively small number of RFRA objectors, even if every request for exemption (much less the two at issue in this motion) were sincere and successful, to serve without adverse consequences to their standing and the terms and conditions of their service will adversely affect the public’s interest in the maintenance and readiness of the nation’s military forces,” Merryday later added. “In fact, the public undoubtedly has some considerable interest in maintaining the services of skilled, experienced, highly trained, patriotic, courageous, and esteemed service members, such as the two moving service members, in whom the public has an immense financial investment and who are not, to say the least, readily replaceable.”

The judge postponed the two members’ penalties for the time being and set a hearing for Feb. 10 in federal court in Tampa, Florida.

Government attorneys argued that the court lacked power to decide whether military leaders should remain in their positions, and that the request for a temporary restraining order should be denied.

“Plaintiffs invite this Court to begin judicial oversight of individual assignment, reassignment, and command decisions, asking this Court to enjoin the Navy from removing the commander of a warship and to stop withdrawal of another’s command selection. Such unprecedented judicial action would damage the military’s interests in readiness, health of service members, and good order and discipline, and the public interest in the national security of the United States,” they wrote in a filing that failed to sway the judge.

While this small win for our service members is getting the recognition that it deserves, we cannot forget that countless service members have been displaced without a second thought from the Department of Defense. This is nothing but a ploy to exploit the medical vulnerability of service members. It’s easy money in the eyes of Fauci and his constituents. No doubt these events will be etched into history as some of the most lackluster policy decisions in modern day governance. This is an unfortunate time to be a service member, because people’s families and livelihoods are at stake while this war is waged over our heads. Globalization will inevitably bring out the anti-Christ, and the truth is technology has come far enough to carry out a globalist agenda. Stay inquisitive in the word of God, and the world around you.

According to a newly released memorandum, American troops are urged but not required to take COVID-19 vaccination booster doses.

“receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose is not mandatory.” the military warned troops earlier this month in the memo released on Tuesday.

A booster dose is not necessary for a person to be deemed completely vaccinated, according to the memo from Gilbert Cisneros, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.

Because of the diminishing efficacy against infection and severe illness shown among individuals who got a primary dose, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised last month that all persons 18 and older take a booster dose, Cisneros noted.

A Pfizer or Moderna booster is available six months after the original series is completed, while a Johnson & Johnson booster is available two months after the single-shot vaccination is completed.

Teenagers who are 16 or 17 years old can also obtain a booster, however it is not suggested by the CDC at this time.

Top Pentagon officials have previously discussed requiring troops to get booster shots.

“There are active discussions here in the department at the policy level about booster shots and whether or not to make those mandatory,” Spokesperson for the Department of Defense, John Kirby, informed reporters on Dec 10th.

In August, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a vaccination mandate requiring troops to receive a primary dose of the COVID-19 inoculation.

Those who asked for medical, religious, or administrative exemptions were given “special consideration.”

Thousands of medical and administrative exemptions have been given by the military, but not a single religious exemption has been authorized, according to various attorneys representing troops.

Mike Berry, an attorney with the First Liberty Institute, told The Epoch Times, “I think it shows that the military now believes that it’s above the law, that it doesn’t have to follow the Constitution or federal law when it comes to enforcing its rules or its policies,”

The Pentagon has maintained its refusal to offer religious exemptions, noting that its procedures have not altered since prior to the outbreak.

“A religious exemption is really an individual decision to seek one and the decisions are made individually. They’re not made en masse,” Kirby said last week.

“Each exemption asked for on religious grounds is evaluated by a chaplain, by a chain of command, by medical experts and is given quite a lot of thought, and they’re all decided case by case individually,” he added.

Deadlines to get vaccinated have passed for all active-duty troops. Reserves have varying timelines depending on which branch they serve under. The deadlines for reserve components in the Air Force, Navy, and Marines came and went earlier this month. Reserves in the Army, including the Army National Guard, have until June 30, 2022, to get a jab.

The way that our slow moving government is facilitating it’s standards for this experimental gene therapy is gut wrenching to watch. They cannot agree on a single standard. It seems as though there is zero collaboration between separate branches of government in regard to COVID policy, and the left wing echo chamber is growing so loud that we’re all being affected by their twisted ideology. A perfect storm is brewing and nobody knows exactly what will happen; But one thing is certain, the American people must brace themselves for impact.

The internet has proved to be a place in which you can tune into various frequencies in search of a perspective that best fits your narrative. I could make up an argument on the fly and back it up with facts pertaining to my argument. With that being said, the news about COVID-19 is terrifyingly polarizing. There is a spectrum, by which all narratives of the COVID-19 agenda are carefully presented to anyone conducting research. The opposing sides of the spectrum are those who are sold on the COVID-19 pandemic, and those who aren’t sold at all.

But it becomes extremely important that we listen to our gut, when we notice that someone is eyeballing something that rightfully belongs to you. Our civil liberties are merely gods gift to man interpreted by men of power. No man, woman, government, organization, forum, or anything will prosper as a weapon against God. With that being said, when our God given rights are at stake, it is probably best to question the integrity of those who propose the removal of such rights. In summary, if you’re not a “conspiracy theorist” you probably aren’t asking very many questions about the world around you.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

Hosea 4:6