And They Can Refuse Covid Shots? How Come?

Maybe I'm too simple-minded. I've been accused of it. But I don't get it.

I read in the Sunday New York Times that U.S. soldiers can refuse Covid shots. At least one-third of them are doing so.

Word is that, in a profession in which you get very few choices, if any, once given the chance to actually choose whether or not to get shots, they're exercising their options and saying no.

Some are saying no simply because they can. Some are saying no because, as fellow practitioners of social media, they've been sucked into the rabbit hole of believing that it's a hoax. And some think they're too young to catch Covid, that that's mainly for old folks like me.

Now, the last time I checked, these are the people who volunteered to defend me. To stand in the breech and take on the first and last attacks from whatever enemies are out there, and yeah, we've got a few.

For that, they have my perpetual admiration and support, especially because almost none of them, by now, have been drafted, that having ended nearly half a century ago. They want to do this.

So do they get the privilege of choosing whether to get vaccine shots? I say, no. I say, ridiculous. I ask, who's in charge of that silly policy?

Joe Biden, I guess. Joe, I voted for you. There was little choice, I know. The absurd alternative spoke for itself and is still doing so. But this policy makes absolutely no sense.

If there's any chance that our soldiers, sailors and airpeople will get sick, wouldn't you put the vaccine in their arms first, without the luxury of choice? Historically--and you can look this up--the largest toll of casualties in every single war was, until very recently, from disease. Put people from different areas together, even for good reasons, and they'll pick up germs and viruses nobody knew anybody else has. And some will die from it, maybe even a lot of them.

An aircraft carrier, the Theodore Roosevelt, became filled with Covid infectees, and its commander was fired over the controversy. We were lucky. It was overseas, and the damage was minimal. How can we pretend it can't get worse?

Even if they don't die, they'll get sick. Someone show me where getting sick from Covid isn't a real bad deal anyhow, doesn't shelve you for a considerable time, and might not even come back after you thought it was over. Can we afford to have the people designated to the defense of the realm in danger of getting that sick as long as we know about it ahead of time?

I thought about that anew after hearing about the Iranian counterattack after our previous president presided over the killing of their top military guy, Qasim Soleimani, early last year. The Iranians told the world they'd retaliate, and they sure did.

On top of shooting down a Ukrainian airliner by mistake--bad idea--they attacked an American air base in Iraq. Attacked by launching 27 ballistic missiles. Fortunately, nobody was killed, heaven knows how our folks escaped that fate. Lots of them suffered brain injuries and PTSD.

But one of the survivors, interviewed by "60 Minutes," told of how they were trying to get into large foxholes just as fast as their legs could carry them. And nobody bothered to count how many people were in there with them because nobody wanted to go back out and gamble because capacity had been reached.

So a whole bunch more people were in with each other, the guy said, maybe 40 squeezed together where 10 represented capacity. Nice, but nobody's going to draw straws when explosions are going off so intensely as to lift people off their feet, not to mention potentially killing them.

This was in early 2020, when Covid wasn't a threat yet, so nobody got sick. But if one-third or more can refuse now, and such an above scenario certainly isn't beyond imagination, we're cavorting with disaster.

And someone wants to risk this now? We have more aircraft carriers and warships, too. What if this plague infests the whole crew? We'd have the series "The Last Ship" in a switcheroo: Not the only ship with uninfected people, but infected people in an impossibly undockable situation. And what if its assignment has particularly crucial timing?

The military has said that soldiers would have to get vaccinated in an emergency. And there would be enough to go around at a moment's notice? Would the missile attack on the base in Iraq qualify, in which case they're in enough trouble to start with?

Yes, we're starting to turn the corner on vaccines, and yes, the numbers of infected. are starting to drop. But they're still happening. Military members are still going home on furlough, and they can bring the virus back with them. Until this is totally tamped down, we should ensure that the people who protect us are, in fact, protected themselves.

Texas has completely re-opened its businesses, as has Mississippi. Those governors are making a mistake, wanting to take credit for economic recovery though thinking people will see the difference. Thinking people should also re-think the policy of leaving it up to the soldiers whether or not they want to get vaccinated. 

There is plenty of vaccine to go around now. Certainly, soldiers are high-priority people and should go to there front of the line. Let's get smart about this.

Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. I now have two vaccine shots. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.

Mister Mark