This morning, the glorious 245th birthday of America, I discovered the possibility/probability that the US Military intends to make the C19 vaccine mandatory rather than optional. Well, folks. To me that’s changing the rules after you volunteer to serve your country. Imagine having a protected pension, and, after putting in your 20(+) years of diligent labor as a beat cop, discover that a year or two post-retirement the guarantor of your pension says “We’re whacking your monthly retirement down from $1,700/mo. to $1,500/mo. because we misestimated how much we  were  supposed to withhold. Our bad! Sorry.”

Now, let’s illustrate this in a military context. Let’s say the Military and their medical Voodoo specialists were cognizant of how a needleless, compression-injected inoculation device operated (jetgun, Pedojet, Munji, etc.). Anyone remotely schooled in antiseptic principles would note the nozzle was going to touch as many as 600 individuals in one day before being disassembled and autoclaved. Imagine french kissing six hundred fellow Basic Trainees. The chances of transmission of disease were an acceptable risk…

The unprotected handling during production or the skin coming into contact during application with any of the seven “Rainbow” herbicides (Agents Pink, Purple, Green, White, Blue, Orange and Super Orange) was know as early as 1957 to cause Porphyria Cutanea Tarda (PCT) and chloracne. Indeed, an Agent Orange horror story alleged a directive to employees at the Monsanto Plant in Verona, Missouri (Hoffman-Taff Chemicals, Inc.) in mid-summer 1957 advised workers wear noncorrosive rubber gloves when handling the various ingredients and  required their mandatory use at any time after being combined and packaged in 50 gallon barrels. The workers complained because the safety gear (which now included the gloves) was simply too hot to wear in summer. The company relented and made it optional again- but only during the summer/fall months, mind you. The chances of contamination with cancer-causing chemicals was an acceptable risk…

If you’ve ever been in a hot spray zone, you know where not to stand after five hours or so. The monkeys start falling down out of trees and they hurt. Ditto the snakes.

Back at the sunset of the Century (1998), we went through something similar. See the below:

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2002/11/gao-military-anthrax-shots-caused-many-reactions-prompted-some-pilots-quit

The military was hell-bent on sticking everyone with the Anthrax vaccine thinking this was waaaay better than having to saddle up with gas masks in a future war. What the hey. If they threw VX at us, we could launch Anthrax right back with impunity knowing our troops were immune. The manufacturer, Michigan Biologic Products Institute (MBPI), had done a study and concluded the six-shot vaccine series only gave 30% of the test subjects adverse reactions. Jez, wait a minute. 30%? Shut the front door, Elinor.  The chances of an adverse reaction to a minimum of 30% of any recipients was an acceptable risk…

“The survey indicated that 85% of troops who received an anthrax shot had an adverse reaction, a rate far higher than the 30% claimed by the manufacturer in 2000, when the survey was conducted. Sixteen percent of the survey respondents had either left the military or changed their status, at least in part because of the vaccination program.”

Now, in the Brave new 21st Millenia, with the sure knowledge of science and a rather comprehensive survey of military post-vaccine medical mishaps, there is a marked 23% increase in Myocarditis. Mayhap there is something amiss with making it mandatory to receive the vaccine. Think of this like a gigantic revolver containing 100 rounds-23 of them containing deadly bullets. You’re getting paid diddly in the US Army as an E 2 and Major Pat Sajak has decided it’s now mandatory for you to spin that revolver like it was the Wheel of Fortune© and pray you don’t land on Deep Vein Thrombosis. I’m sorry. When you are in the military, you don’t get to be a stakeholder in your medical posture. If you object, you’ll eventually be awarded the Big Chicken Dinner for standing by your morals. It’s far different than being a salaried hospital nurse in Houston who refuses it. S/he  has the option to vote with her/his feet and seek employment elsewhere. So, our teaching moment here is that a 23% Myocarditis casualty rate is an acceptable risk…

Back in 1971 on a parking apron adjacent to the active runway one day at an airpatch in northwest Thailand (Operating Location Charlie), the paymasters landed along with the peckercheckers. We lined up in the shade of the Goonybird and collected our pay and then presented our  yellow shot books to determine if we were in need of any shots. I had just gotten out of the local civilian hospital there (McCormick Hospital) after a 6 week stay for viral hepatitis. The closest military hospital was 600 klics southwest of us at Udorn. As we all are quite aware by now, once you get the Corona bug (and survive), you gain immunity to it. Remember the Smallpox vaccine?  The need for a vaccine post-infection is superfluous. Well, ditto those ice-cold Gamma Globulin shots they were giving us to “protect” us from Hepatitis B. Once you contract hepatitis B and survive it, you’re bulletproof. Tell that to a couple of ignorant, armed peckercheckers. I was informed I could roll up my sleeve  and take the shot or surrender my weapons and put my hands behind my back. I guess they call that the Military Macarena now. Twenty five years later I found out I had Hep C and not to worry. Ten years later in 2007, civilians convinced me the new miracle drugs Interferon and Ribavirin would eradicate it with an 87% chance of success. The only problem with that was the documented cure rate was 38% with acceptible secondaries like your teeth falling out, coming down with a whopping killer case of Diabetes II, retinopathy, etc. Didn’t any of you wonder why they gave us a pre-Interferon eye exam to compare to what you had left a few years later? The chances of  life-threatening injuries and sickness were an acceptable risk…

Don’t read anything into this. I have received my vaccines and am grateful to have them. I didn’t think twice. Christ. I’m 70 years old. That Wheel of Fortune™ revolver I described above holds about 60 rounds in my age group. I would hope and wish any who hold moral objections or anti-vax beliefs would set them aside for the sake of humanity to rid us of this pox. But to make it mandatory? Aruuh? That smacks of the Nazis requiring Jewish people to wear a large yellow star on their left breast. It smacks of a country (Russia) who required everyone to register their guns after the 1917 revolution. Several years later, they arrived to confiscate them. Hell, in this day and age here in America, there are those who seek to do likewise and couch it as a grand, voluntary turn-in a la Australia with compensation at about 2¢ on the dollar. The chances of a life-threatening assault by a lunatic or felon in your own home are so low, banning private ownership of guns is an acceptable risk…

I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I liked the Mel Gibson/Julia Roberts gig but in reality, the only successful conspiracy is a conspiracy of one. The Mafia thought they had this sewn up with Omerta but look how that turned out. The FBI has a bigger wallet and a Witness Protection Program.  Thus, I do not subscribe to the chemtrail sniffers who suspect they’re injecting nanosized chip tracers into us to know where we are… you know… just in case.

What I do know is glaringly elementary. The military is purposefully creating new clients for the VA compensation program. Gee, do these upcoming Veterans  use §1151 claims when they fill out their 526s claiming the military purposefully gave them myocarditis? I can already see it now. The disease was acute and transitory and resolved before separation. In any case the degree of disability does not rise to the level of VA compensation under the (new) diagnostic code….yet. In ten years when you file to reopen, we can scream Maxon v. Gober, 230 F.3d 1330 (2000) and say it occurred post service and was normal for your age. Been there. Done that.

It almost has an aura of deja vu to read about this. Almost. I note that the Government has a way of not denying something by what they choose to say. Take, for instance, the following:

“A U.S. Army spokesperson told the Army Times that “we do not comment on leaked documents” and added that “the vaccine continues to be voluntary.”

What this means in Milspeak is  the story is true but classified at this moment because we have not announced it’s getting ready to be mandatory. Were it to be rank misinformation or conjecture, the spokesperson would have adamantly denied the rumor as categorically untrue and without merit.

It’s not a conspiracy. It’s merely a ploy to protect as many troops as possible. If they harm a few, it’s akin to Spock’s greatest one-liner: “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” That’s great for reactor meltdowns and falling on hand grenades. I think it’s too extreme for the troops and expect we’re going to see a disorderly rush to the exits akin to the recent spate of policemen retiring. I find that sad. But that’s just my opinion. I do hope I’m wrong.

Happy Fourth of July to you all. Live long and Prosper safely…with or without a mask… well, depending on your vaccination status.