Pentagon warns National Guard troops could be forced out for vaccine refusal after Oklahoma rejects mandate

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Pentagon warns National Guard troops could be forced out for vaccine refusal after Oklahoma rejects mandate

Alex Horton, Karoun Demirjian  1 hr ago

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The Pentagon said Wednesday it has authority to require coronavirus vaccination for National Guard personnel and that continued refusal would put thousands of military careers in jeopardy, the Biden administration’s sharpest response yet to a countermand from the Oklahoma National Guard, which last week declared the Defense Department policy optional for troops under state control.

A National Guard member prepares a dose of coronavirus vaccine in New Orleans in August. (Bryan Tarnowski/Bloomberg)

Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) last week removed the state’s adjutant general, who had directed troops to comply with the vaccine mandate, and replaced him with a new commanding general who promptly issued the order rejecting it. In his memo, Brig. Gen. Thomas Mancino, the state’s new National Guard commander, said personnel could sidestep the policy with no repercussions unless they are put on federal duty.

The extraordinary move has sparked some concern within the administration that other Republican-controlled states will follow Oklahoma’s lead, leaving the Pentagon with little recourse but to hold individual service members accountable for refusing lawful orders that their immediate chain of command has disavowed.

Oklahoma National Guard rejects Pentagon’s coronavirus vaccine mandate

“We are not aware of any governor attempting to prohibit members from receiving the vaccine, and don’t see this as placing any individual member in conflict with state authorities,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said in a statement. “Failure to receive the vaccine may jeopardize an individual member’s status in the National Guard.”

Kirby did not immediately address questions seeking clarity as to how the Defense Department planned to inform the roughly 8,200 members of the Oklahoma National Guard that it should ignore Mancino’s policy and instead comply with the federal directive to get vaccinated.

Stitt has asked Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to exempt Oklahoma Guard personnel from the requirement. Kirby said that governors “may not relieve individual members of the Guard from their obligation to comply with this valid medical readiness requirement.” Austin has not yet responded to the request, the governor’s office said.

A defense official, who discussed the dilemma in a conference call with reporters on Wednesday, would not disclose whether the Pentagon also would reprimand commanders who refuse to enforce the order, which was issued by Austin in August. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the Pentagon.

The secretaries of the Army and Air Force will work with Gen. Daniel Hokanson, who heads the National Guard Bureau, to address potential consequences for those who refuse orders, the official said, noting they would take action on a “case-by-case basis.”

Air Force is first to face troops’ rejection of vaccine mandate as thousands avoid shots

The vaccine mandate has faced resistance within pockets of the military. While a majority of the active-duty force is fully vaccinated, thousands continue to hold out — and overall, far fewer National Guard personnel have chosen to comply.

Oklahoma’s policy could be a road map for other GOP governors wishing to fight President Biden’s vaccination mandates. More than five National Guard commanders in other states have contacted their counterparts in Oklahoma expressing interest in a similar policy, according to a senior military official in the state who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the issue’s political sensitivity.

At least one other Republican governor has spoken to Stitt about duplicating his initiative, said Carly Atchison, a spokesperson.

Oklahoma’s new policy walks a line between a state’s military orders, in which the governor acts as commander in chief for operations such as disaster relief, and federal military orders, in which National Guard members carry out missions under the president’s command. Mancino has said Guard members would be subject to the vaccine requirement if they are put on active duty for a federally mandated assignment such as an overseas deployment.

Approximately 13 percent of Guard members in Oklahoma indicated they would not take the vaccine, the military official said. About 40 percent of Oklahoma Army National Guard soldiers are fully vaccinated ahead of a June deadline to do so. Within the state’s Air National Guard, which faces a December compliance deadline, 89 percent of personnel are fully vaccinated.

The National Guard has absorbed a disproportionate share of the 75 deaths among military personnel infected with covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. National Guard members account for 28 percent of all covid-related deaths in the military, but they constitute only about 19 percent of the entire armed forces. The Army National Guard has the highest death toll across the services, according to Pentagon data.