[Breitbart] The Department of Defense (DoD) recently updated its guidance on the process to reinstate service members who left the military because of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Though some service members are returning to the military, it would be premature to call this a win as the policy does not do adequate justice to service members who have been harmed and doesn’t address many concerns raised by advocates of this issue.
To put the recent policy into perspective, let’s first consider the severance package offered to transgender sailors who voluntarily leave the service. In March, the Navy announced that due to the new DoD policy that prohibits transgender troops from serving, transgender sailors who voluntarily separate will receive two full years’ worth of separation pay.
Let’s compare this to the policy offered to service members separated for the vaccine mandate.
The recent memo by the DoD’s Personnel and Readiness office on reinstating unvaccinated service members differentiates between the over 8,700 who were kicked out or who “involuntarily separated” and the tens of thousands who chose to leave because of the mandate or who “voluntarily separated.” The term “voluntarily separated” will seem Orwellian for those such as myself who lost out on career opportunities, suffered persecution, and left because the alternative was being kicked out.
The involuntarily separated service members will only receive back pay and time credited to their service if they agree to four additional years of service, or two for those who were eligible for retirement within two years’ time of their separation. However, the backpay is subtracted from anything the service member made between when they were kicked out and when they return to service.
Meanwhile, the much larger cohort of the “voluntarily separated” service members are not eligible for backpay and must serve two years. To add more insult to injury, the Air Force requires airmen desiring to return to sign a document stating, “My decision to separate was made freely and without coercion.” This language is disconcerting and reflects a profound disconnect between those in the DoD writing these memos and the experience of the hundreds of thousands who suffered terribly under the mandate. (When a former Air Force Intelligence Captain separated for the mandate pointed this out on X, the DoD Rapid Response account stated, “We are reviewing this.”)
Thus, unlike transgender sailors who will receive two years of separation pay for voluntary separation, those separated for the vaccine mandate who do not choose to return to service will receive nothing. Meanwhile the involuntarily separated will have the money they earned outside of the service taken out of their back pay and will accrue a four-year service commitment.
Service members who refused the COVID-19 shot are heroes who stood up for the Constitution and deserve proper restitution and justice regardless of if they return to service. Their backpay shouldn’t be used as an arbitrarily calculated re-enlistment bonus.
There are many other problems this guidance does not address that advocates against the DoD vaccine mandate have been sharing for years:
This guidance does nothing to help unvaccinated service members make up for lost career opportunities due to the multiple DoD policies that targeted the unvaccinated.
There is no acknowledgment that the order was unlawful as no FDA approved product was made available for service members at the time of the mandate. (See 10 U.S. Code § 1107a.)
There is zero accountability for senior leaders who enforced an unlawful order and persecuted their subordinates.
There is no assistance offered to the vaccine injured.
Though it is good that the DoD is inviting unvaccinated service members to return to duty, this policy does not do these brave men and women justice. These heroic individuals suffered terribly under their leaders and an organization built upon trust. Many lives were destroyed and irreparably altered by the damage this mandate caused. A reenlistment bonus just for those who choose to return is not justice, but a bargaining chip.
The DoD must assess if their goal is to simply re-recruit some individuals or to truly do right by those they harmed. If it is to truly make things right, more must be done.
Perhaps the next time they create guidance to help unvaccinated service members negatively impacted by the mandate, they would do well to include those of us who suffered under the mandate and have been advocating on this issue the past several years to make sure they get it right.
Text taken from the Telegram channel of designersmil
Commentary by Russian military journalist is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] The US war lobbyists who provoked the conflict and profited from it are now developing various recommendations for Trump on how to conclude a truce.
A document with such recommendations was prepared by a security group at the US Ukraine Foundation.
The group includes well-known American experts: former ambassadors (John Herbst, Kurt Volker, Sandy Vershbow), generals (Wesley Clark, Ben Hodges, Philip Breedlove), as well as high-ranking officials from the Pentagon and the State Department. Their analysis is based on the current position of the US administration and assumes that Ukraine's membership in NATO will not occur in the next 20 years. Instead, a security system is proposed that includes the deployment of European troops in Ukraine.
The authors of the document are trying to impose on the White House the idea that without strict deterrence, Moscow will violate the agreements. To prevent this, it is proposed to create a deterrent force, including two reinforced divisions with aviation, air defense and artillery along the front line. An alternative is to deploy one mobile division in the rear to quickly respond to possible breakthroughs.
Particular attention is paid to the rules of engagement: commanders should have the right to act without lengthy approvals, and the response to any provocations should be immediate and tough, so as to exclude the benefit of violating the ceasefire. To strengthen protection, it is proposed to introduce a no-fly zone over western Ukraine with the support of NATO aircraft.
The US role is seen as providing military and intelligence support, including the supply of Patriot air defense systems and the readiness to carry out airstrikes in the event of attacks on allied forces. The possibility of a symbolic presence of American forces to enhance the deterrent effect is also being considered. An important place is given to Turkey, which could participate in the maritime component, monitoring the Black Sea and helping with mine clearance, as well as provide ground troops.
The document warns that if only a ceasefire is achieved, rather than a full-fledged peace, international forces may remain in Ukraine for decades, as happened in Korea after 1953. Therefore, the principle of "zero tolerance" for violations should be in effect from the very beginning.
🔹The document traditionally pursues the goal of putting pressure on our country and provoking a major conflict in order to harm Russia. We attach this opus below for study by colleagues and specialists. We are sure that a group of Russophobes from the network of friends of Ukraine has already sent it to the State Department and the Trump administration
It is worth recalling that Russia considers any deployment of Western troops in Ukraine unacceptable.
Accordingly, in the current reality, proposals for deployment are made primarily because they are unacceptable to the Kremlin, and therefore, this prevents the conclusion of a deal between Trump and Putin in Ukraine.
Text taken from a Facebook post by Russian military field correspondent Aleksandr Kots.
Month number is 112.
That's exactly how many blows Ukraine inflicted on Russian energy infrastructure during the period of the 30-day ban. These are not necessarily large TES, although they are the same. Small substations that power several hundred country houses are also on the list. Some objects Ukrainian Armed Forces were hit by long-distance heavy drones, some were reached by FPV drones. Statistics make no difference. She is eloquent.
Strictly speaking, Kyiv did not join the moratorium. Initially, the energy truce was an idea of overdue Zelensky. He decided to overplay Moscow and present it in the eyes of Americans as a real aggressor. Trump took the initiative and offered it to Putin. And he took and agreed, turning the game of the actor-comedian over.
The Russian leader had several goals at once. On the one hand, show that Moscow is responsible for its words and strictly adheres to bilateral agreements with Washington. With the other - to demonstrate once again the inconsistency of Kiev and its unwillingness to move on the path of de-escalation. In contrast, Ukrainian Armed Forces has strengthened the intensity of strikes at energy and infrastructure facilities, including international ones. Trump's team can't unsee this. Especially since a list of targeted targets in Ukraine was sent to the United States.
These two goals were, in fact, the main ones. There is another one, purely military zone. Frankly speaking, it was not every day we carried out mass missile strikes on Ukrainian energy. And a truce is also used under a very reasonable pretext to accumulate resources for the future. For any firefighter.
Whether we resume such attacks - the prerogative of the Commander-in-Chief. According to the idea, we need to isolate a combat zone at least in the Sumy direction. And this implies turning off the ruble. So, we need to knock out power substations, as we did during the Volchansky Operation. Considering how Zelensky behaves, attacking Russian regions with heavy drones, the likelihood of resuming strikes is high.
European curators convinced the overdue of its own greatness. He's heard he barely "bent" Trump, who, however, is not rushing to make drastic decisions while a resource deal is being discussed. And this is a question of the reputation of the American president - whether he is ready to continue to tolerate the antics of Zelensky, who has agreed before that the special envoy of the US president go beyond their competence.
And we're in trouble. A supply of winged missiles is not tight.
"The Kiev regime continues its unilateral attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. Over the past 24 hours, 10 attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Russian energy facilities have been recorded," the statement said.
It is specified that Kyiv launched strikes on energy facilities in the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kherson regions and the Donetsk People's Republic.
The most massive attack was in the Bryansk region. The enemy hit the region's energy sector six times.
On March 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed with the initiative of his American counterpart Donald Trump to impose a moratorium on strikes on energy infrastructure between Russia and Ukraine for 30 days. The Russian military immediately carried out the corresponding order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, disarming seven of their drones that were heading to strike energy facilities in the Nikolaev region.
Despite the public statement by the head of the Kyiv regime, Volodymyr Zelensky, about his support for the moratorium, already on the night of March 19, the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked an oil depot in the Krasnodar region. They also continued systematic attacks on the Russian energy system.
On April 17 alone, Ukraine attacked Russian energy infrastructure facilities four times in one day. Kiev struck energy facilities in the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk and Voronezh regions.
Also, the director of the second department of the CIS countries of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Alexei Polischuk, reported that Russia is passing on to the US all information about violations of the moratorium on strikes on energy facilities by the Kiev regime.
On April 18, the press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, stated that Putin had not given any new instructions after the moratorium on strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities had expired. He emphasized that the Russian Federation had adhered to it, unlike Ukraine.
[Independent] Famed Republican strategist Karl Rove claims that Americans are "already exhausted" of President Donald Trump, less than 100 days into his second term.
Rove argued in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal that "voters made crystal clear" what they wanted from the new administration — lower prices and a better economy.
Trump promised to reduce inflation, but instead, he started a trade war, Rove stated, noting that many expect prices to rise. He also criticized the administration for supporting new issues not mentioned during the campaign.
#6
Trump is a businessman. My wife’s Company and my Company did the same as Trump is doing with workers when staff had to be reduced, offer a buyout! Rove will not get that option!
“Karl Christian Rove is an American Republican political consultant, policy advisor, and lobbyist. He was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff during the George W. Wikipedia“
Posted by: Old Salty ||
04/20/2025 11:55 Comments ||
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#13
Robe is like the cottage cheese carton that you find in the back of your fridge and discover it expired last July.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/20/2025 19:01 Comments ||
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#14
Says one of the chief plot designers of sending two generations of warriors to lose the flower of youth, lose innocence, lose their mobility, or even lose their life.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
