Retaliation for refusing the once-mandated COVID-19 shot now not has a spot in at the moment’s U.S. army. Careers have been destroyed, and right here’s probably the most egregious examples.
Joshua Zermeno enlisted within the Air Drive in 2010. After just a few years of serving as a B-52 strategic bomber mechanic, a beforehand earned mechanical engineering diploma supplied the chance to use to Officer Coaching Faculty (OTS).
After OTS, Zermeno was commissioned within the Air Drive as a second lieutenant and commenced Undergraduate Pilot Coaching (UPT). Ending quantity two in his class, in 2015, he was then assigned to fly the RC-135, a reconnaissance plane.
In 2018, he was given the chance to transition profession paths as soon as once more. He started working with rockets, aiding the Nationwide Aeronautics and House Administration (NASA), SpaceX, and different space-related entities.
In 2021, he was chosen as one of many first officers to be commissioned into The US House Drive, and his oversight on house elevate operations continued to broaden.
“All the things appeared to be going nicely,” Zermeno advised The Gateway Pundit. “That’s, till the [shot] mandate got here down from Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin [in August 2021].” He took objection to the now-rescinded mandate for “private causes,” and “that didn’t go nicely with the bottom commander,” he shared.
Inside three weeks, he acquired a Letter of Reprimand (LOR). Just a few weeks after receiving the LOR, he acquired “a don’t promote” steering from his base commander.
“I used to be handed over for promotion to Main,” he defined. “Issues simply began spiraling uncontrolled, and I acquired a second LOR.”
With no spiritual exemption or spiritual waiver for the shot, Zermeno was basically compelled to use to “voluntarily separate” utilizing an administrative discharge course of created particularly for service members refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
To his shock, “The Air Drive determined it wasn’t of their greatest curiosity to separate me.” Reasonably, he was “kicked out” of presidency buildings and was assigned to distant, menial jobs.
Shockingly, after being denied voluntary separation, Zermeno was threatened with Uniform Code of Navy Justice (UCMJ) punishment. “I used to be going to be put up towards a discharge board in January [2023],” he defined.
However on the ultimate hour, former Protection Secretary Austin rescinded the mandate on January 10, contemplating it “an unfair, overbroad, and completely unnecessary burden on our service members.”
“I used to be within the clear. That is over,” thought Zermeno. “However a couple of month later, I acquired a second ‘don’t promote,’ for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine” he stated.
“I used to be handed over [for promotion] and compelled to involuntarily separate months after the COVID mandates have been rescinded” he added, stating that “after they separated me, they labeled it for a failure to advertise.”
Regardless of his harrowing expertise, Zermeno nonetheless expresses curiosity in reinstatement.
“Once I noticed the Executive Order by President Trump to [‘make reinstatement available to all members of the military (active and reserve) who were discharged solely for refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and who request to be reinstated’], I instantly began reaching out to my earlier base and nobody knew what was occurring.”
Zermeno then reached out to the Division of the Air Drive, which is chargeable for United States House Drive members. He was advised “they don’t have any steering in any respect, and are ready on steering from the Division of Protection.”
Week after week, he continues to be advised “they don’t have any steering on find out how to logistically make it occur.”
Will President Trump, Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth, or Air Drive Secretary Gary Ashworth intervene? A former Air Drive Captain who served honorably awaits the reply.
