But, according to an attorney fighting against the military’s vaccine mandate in another lawsuit, the guidance does the bare minimum in enforcing the court order and does not protect service members from all consequences for refusing the vaccine, such a promotion holds and the denial of opportunities for overseas deployment.
It also states that, “Commanders shall pause all administrative actions related to the involuntary separation of a class member, regardless of the current status of the separation process (e.g., no orders will be given to receive the vaccine, no counselings will be issued for refusing the vaccine, no administrative separation boards will be conducted …).”
The guidance made reference to the Aug. 18 temporary injunction issued by a Florida federal court barring the Marines Corp. from punishing members whose religious accommodation requests have been denied.
Mike Berry, whose legal work at First Liberty Institute helped secure a preliminary injunction in early January that stopped the Department of Defense from taking any action against a group of Navy SEALs who have religious objections to the vaccine mandate, said the new guidance did not go far enough in observing the federal court injunction.
For example, paragraph 4.d. still provides for up to a 12-month delay in promotion for those ranked from private first class to sergeant. “This is directly counter to the injunction, because promotions are being delayed over refusal to take the COVID shot,” Whitaker said. “This is retaliation in my opinion.”
For Berry, “the promotion holds indicate that the [guidance] is simply doing the bare minimum of what is required by law, that is, they won’t be punished or kicked out.” Thus, there are still consequences for refusing the vaccine.
Furthermore, the guidance states, “Commanders may consider vaccination status in making assignment, deployment, and other operational decisions.” It adds that, “Marines not fully vaccinated are not considered to be worldwide deployable and shall be assigned or reassigned locally.”
According to Berry, “this is nothing more than another way for them to use the auspices of an operational decision or an assignment decision to end somebody’s career, or at the very least, shorten somebody’s career.”
Although the unvaccinated are not being punished or terminated, Berry said, “by putting on their record that they’re not worldwide deployable and can only be locally assigned, they’re essentially taking steps to remove the service member.”
“While it may not look like it’s intended to railroad a Marine’s career, it will certainly have that effect—and I believe that’s been the intent all along,” he added.
“They’re looking for clever ways to use loopholes and technicalities to force people out,” according to Berry. For example, what happens if a Marine can’t promote? he asked. “If they can’t promote because they don’t have any deployments or other career-enhancing opportunities abroad, most folks are going to voluntarily show themselves to the door.”
Lt. Col. Madison Whitaker (a pseudonym) who has served nearly 18 years in the Marine Corps also expressed disappointment in the language in the interim guidance. He spoke to The Epoch Times using a pseudonym to protect his identity, fearing reprisals.
Whitaker said that strong leadership is absent in what he described as “tyrannical” decision-making policies.
“It makes you wonder who at the Pentagon and who at the Judge Advocate division of the Marne Corps is advising senior leaders to continue to put out this kind of language,” said Whitaker.
“At some point, there has to be an adult in that small room of advisers that’s willing to take a loss and try to reverse course,” he added.
“That would certainly help the devasting effect the vaccine has had on retention and recruiting.”
The Epoch Times has reached out to the Marine Corps seeking a response to criticisms of the interim guidance.
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