Report: Secretary of Defense Austin, a retired general, refuses to reject the proposal that troops who refuse vaccine will receive dishonorable discharges.
A dishonorable discharge is the worst type of discharge. It is imposed by a court martial. Those receiving it have committed felonies or serious military offenses. They are ineligible for veteran’s benefits, cannot possess a firearm, and have great difficulty finding civilian jobs. Their lives are ruined.
How could a man have risen to wear four stars on his shoulders, then be appointed to head the Defense Department, and yet have so little regard for the men and women he is responsible for? Men and women who served in combat, may carry scars, and served honorably for years, even decades – and get kicked out with “dishonorable” indelibly attached to their names?
Perhaps Austin intended his remarks to be taken as a threat: get the vaccine or else! But threats can cut both ways, especially when you are threatening people who have faced death. Would you want to enlist in armed forces where years of honorable service are spat upon? Would you want to remain, even if leaving meant you would get no pension?
With men like “Dishonorable Discharge” Austin and “It’s Not My Fault” Milley in charge, one need not be a prophet to predict a sharp decline in enlistment and retention, and equally bad, a decline in the quality of those enlisting. The honorable attract the honorable. Self-serving losers attract losers.
No doubt Austin and Milley will get lucrative book deals and become Sunday talk-show celebrities – for a few weeks. But then they will have to live with themselves for the rest of their lives, realizing that they capped their careers by weakening what they swore to uphold.
