An unvaccinated soldier who was barred from official travel said his job was ‘essentially stopped’

The US Army has banned unvaccinated soldiers from official travel without the secretary’s approval, according to a report published by Fox News.

The guidance also applies to those who are in the process of learning the fate of their request for religious shelter from the vaccination authority.

A FRAGO dated June 16 reads: “Unvaccinated soldiers are not eligible for official travel without the prior approval of the Under Secretary of the Army.”

Departments of the military are responsible for submitting requests to the undersecretary. And unless they can get “prior approval” from the secretary, a line appears to be drawn in the sand requiring unvaccinated soldiers to be vaccinated or promoted to higher ranks, job promotions and other valuable training opportunities.

Chief Warrant Officer (CW2) Michael Davenport, a 16-year veteran of the Army, told The Epoch Times that his job was “basically on hold.” Once serving as a U.S. Army infantryman with the 1st Ranger Battalion, Davenport was In 2019, it had the role of supporting the Apache Advanced Attack Helicopter. Attending military schools and training that advance the profession. “If I can’t progress through education and training, I may fall back and progress in the next promotion board,” he said.

“He’s a very new pilot, not yet a pilot in command (PIC),” Davenport said. His religious objection to the military’s vaccination mandate starting in September 2021 could cost him the PIC designation. He was not vaccinated and could not travel, so he was forbidden to participate in training with the war training center. “For example, they made me a rear detachment officer and others participated in the training,” he said.

Despite submitting a waiver and exception to the policy (ETP), Davenport said he was “denied back due to travel restrictions.” Of course, his section “send ETP to other general secretary” did not produce any result.

“I lacked training to ensure I could go to another theater deployment or rotation. [as well as] The required hours [of flight time] He had to be a pilot. He described the experience as “harmful” to his career.

In addition, the Davenport unit has recently been set up for the European Command (EUCOM) rotation. An ETP that will deploy with his unit is still being considered. But instead of receiving confirmation that he would deploy with his companions from June 2020, he said, “They moved me to a sister battalion that is not deploying to the brigade, and others have started EUCOM rotations.”

Davenport considers stories like his to be detrimental to military readiness. “The Army has spent millions of dollars on Ranger training and flight training,” he said. “To sideline anyone that the military has invested heavily in is, in my opinion, the opposite of preparedness.”

Inexperience is the result.

Epoch Times also spoke to Sergeant First Class Robbie Barnes (name), who has served in the US Army for 20 years. After being assigned overseas, Barnes requested religious accommodation in October 2021. “I have asked several times to find out the situation, but I have not heard anything,” he said. This, he suspects, is because he is close to retirement. “I feel like they’re trying to see if they can wait for me to retire,” he explained.

Because of the religious opposition to the vaccine, people have made “funny” comments. “It’s a projection where you feel like you’re worthless until you get the shot,” he said.

Not only did Barnes miss the overseas deployment, but he also missed a few training events and career-enhancing opportunities. “And there’s not a chance in hell these things are going to change anytime soon,” he said.

“I’m at a point in my career where I need to compete for promotion if I don’t retire, and I’ve put myself on the edge to continue competing,” he said. According to Barnes, senior leaders and those with experience the Army needs to tap into are “being pushed out of the Army.”

Barnes calls for new recruits to contribute something valuable to the military as senior leaders who reject the vaccine mandate are threatened and pushed out of the service. New recruits may lose out on learning all the old skills and abilities necessary to take on the enemy, he said. “If something happens in terms of the climate in the world now, we have pushed all our people who have experience,” he warned, “if we get into a large-scale conflict now, we will fight.”

“I think every time a Democratic administration comes in, they come in thinking about reducing the military,” Barnes said. But today they seem to be trying to weaken the military and make it seem like it was our fault that we chose to leave. [while also] For example, trying to prove that they have the military to better control people willing to challenge the illegality of vaccination mandates.

The views of Davenport and Barnes do not necessarily reflect the position of the Department of Defense or the Department of the Army. Neither the Pentagon nor the US military responded to requests for comment from The Epoch Times.

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JM Phelps is a writer and researcher on both Islamic and Chinese threats.