(Congress Report) – The U.S. Military Academy located at West Point has officially confirmed there is a COVID-19 vaccine requirement in place for incoming cadets, weeks after the Secretary of Defense tossed out military vaccine mandates. Will this COVID madness ever end? Ever? It certainly doesn’t seem like it.
Micaela Burrow, writing for the Daily Caller, said, “West Point had revoked travel restrictions for unvaccinated members as of Jan. 31, according to an official Army order obtained by the DCNF and an academy spokesperson, and as of Friday the Army formally repealed all internal COVID-19 vaccine requirements in line with Department of Defense (DOD) orders from earlier in January. Yet even in late February, after the application deadline had passed, the academy’s admissions office confirmed a vaccination requirement for incoming new cadets, according to West Point communications viewed by the DCNF and a spokesperson.”
“There is no telling how many potential cadets this arbitrary mandate has dissuaded from serving our nation,” Republican Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana went on to say during an interview with the DCNF.
As per their website, the application deadline for seniors in high school is in early February.
“Congress’s defense bill for 2023 included a provision ordering Austin to rescind the COVID-19 mandate. According to the bill, DOD had one month starting when President Joe Biden signed the bill into law on Dec. 23 to issue new guidance,” the Daily Caller penned.
The Army has issued a pause on discharges for troops who have not received the coronavirus vaccine, while the secretary worked on a new policy on the matter.
“But, the West Point admissions office in late February told an inquirer that West Point’s current guidance is that the incoming class of cadets must be vaccinated in a statement obtained by the DCNF. The statement noted that, due to recent changes to DOD COVID-19 policy, the requirement could change before the next incoming class reports to the academy in June,” Burrow wrote.
When the Daily Caller reached out on Feb. 22, a spokesperson for the public affairs office of the academy asserted, “the policy is that individuals seeking accession into the Army must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.”
Burrow continued, “The spokesperson cited Department of Defense’s Army Directive 2022-02, which initiated the discharge process for soldiers who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine in contravention of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s August 2021 department-wide mandate. The policy affirmed the vaccine requirement for both current and prospective recruits, including those seeking to join the military academy.”
The directive says that West Point “will follow current policy for initiating administrative separation and disenrollment proceedings for cadets and cadet candidates pursuant to reference 1e [USMA organizational guidelines], as appropriate. The basis for separation will be ‘Misconduct.'”
The report then divulged, “Army Directive 2022-02 cites the August 2021 order to define ‘fully vaccinated’ status. Austin revoked that memo on Jan. 10. The academy spokesperson acknowledged the fluid situation and suggested things could change soon.”
Then, 24 hours after the previous email, the public affairs office sent the DCNF a follow up saying that “the U.S. Military Academy no longer requires a COVID-19 vaccination for candidates applying to West Point.”
“The Public Affairs Office explained it had not been made aware of the revision and that the earliest communication available was identified the day prior,” the report added. “Then, the Army released an official policy Friday evening allowing unvaccinated individuals to seek admission to the academy.”
“I hereby rescind all Department of the Army policies specifically associated with the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination mandate” to include that the vaccine is “no longer required for accessions or pre-commissioning programs,” Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth stated in the memo.
Rep. Waltz & @RepJimBanks sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of the Army Wormuth to express concerns over the historic recruitment crisis facing the U.S. Army today and to call for public release of important recruiting and retaining survey data.
Read more 👇https://t.co/kSc7uj7Iqx pic.twitter.com/baT7HetoqR
— Congressman Waltz Press (@RepWaltzPress) February 23, 2023
West Point did not respond to requests made for comment.
“At a time when recruitment numbers are already dangerously low, our service academies should not be discriminating against applicants,” Banks remarked during a statement given to the DCNF. “The lack of transparency and unclear guidelines surrounding this mandate is just the latest example of bureaucracy at its worst!”
While all branches of the United States military have suffered from low recruitment numbers, the worst by far has been the Army. That specific branch came up 15,000 recruits short of its goal of 60,000. That’s massive.
“West Point was barring unvaccinated cadets from traveling off-base in official capacity in January even though they were no longer in danger of being discharged, the DCNF previously reported,” Burrow revealed.
Given how difficult it is right now to get recruits, is it really a good idea to create yet another barrier to entry into the armed forces? There are no doubt tons of able-bodied young men and women who want to join and serve their country but refuse to allow themselves to be guinea pigs for pharmaceutical companies. If you want these individuals to sign up, ditch the mandates. Pretty simple.
Copyright 2023. CongressReport.com
The article on West Point appeared until the end when you decided to add very strong commentary.
You should have labeled this as a editorial!
I meant to say that the article appeared objective until the end.
I hope NO ONE would sacrifice their lives for West Point, or for anything related to the Communist/Genocidal Gov we currently have!
Unnecessary WOKE controlling attempted by the Democratic Party! Show me why and explain your rational!