{"id":1422699,"date":"2022-04-06T21:59:42","date_gmt":"2022-04-07T01:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1422699"},"modified":"2022-04-06T21:59:47","modified_gmt":"2022-04-07T01:59:47","slug":"general-milley-downplays-kicking-out-troops-over-vaccine-mandate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/general-milley-downplays-kicking-out-troops-over-vaccine-mandate\/","title":{"rendered":"General Milley Downplays Kicking Out Troops over Vaccine Mandate"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fgeneral-milley-downplays-kicking-out-troops-over-vaccine-mandate%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1422699&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley downplayed the effect of kicking out troops from the military for not complying with the Biden administration\u2019s military vaccine mandate, even amid threats from China and Russia and recruiting difficulties in the Army.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), a Navy veteran, asked Milley Tuesday at a House Armed Services Committee hearing if it was worth sacrificing the military\u2019s total number of troops for vaccine mandates.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWould you rather have a few extra battalions of unvaccinated soldiers, or not have them at all because of this?\u201d Banks asked Milley.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe numbers are very low, by the way, of those that are refusing to be vaccinated, and they\u2019re even lower. I mean, it\u2019s tiny the numbers that are actually being asked to process out. So I think it\u2019s manageable, and I think that I would prefer that everybody just go ahead and get vaccinated,\u201d Milley said.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17417794\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2021\/08\/2020file-army-national-guard-coronavirus-vaccines-moderna-ap.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maj. Michael Childress receives a bandage from Sgt. Christian Minor after being inoculated with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the Mississippi National Guard\u2019s 172d Airlift Wing facility in Flowood, MS, Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2020. (AP Photo\/Rogelio V. Solis)<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>So far, about 2,000 troops have been kicked out, but the numbers may reach thousands more.<\/p>\n<p>Banks noted that the Army National Guard missed its recent recruiting goal by 8,000 and that the Army is now planning to dramatically lower its personnel size because of recruiting challenges.<\/p>\n<p>Milley said the recruiting difficulties were a mixture of a lack of eligible recruits and the desire to save money.<\/p>\n<p>Banks then noted the Army is offering new recruits as much as $50,000 in signing bonuses as it kicks out soldiers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow much additional costs are we going to incur because of the increased recruiting bonuses to combat projected losses for unvaccinated military personnel?\u201d Banks asked.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>Milley said he would have to get back to him on a cost analysis but emphasized that the number of troops getting kicked out is \u201cvery, very small\u201d in the Army.<\/p>\n<p>Banks noted it is projected that 2,692 soldiers \u2014 the size of a couple of Army battalions \u2014 have not taken the vaccine and will likely be kicked out of the Army.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cOnce again, how is this loss of personnel going to hurt the overall end strength of the Army?\u201d he asked Milley.<\/p>\n<p>Milley then said if all of those troops are kicked out, \u201cI think that would hurt,\u201d but he indicated some could be convinced to take the vaccine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think there\u2019s an issue of education here and persuasion, and making sure that these soldiers are making informed decisions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<div id=\"attachment_18130290\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-1343598610.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18130290\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-1343598610.png\" alt=\"U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (C), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley (L) and Commander of U.S. Central Command Gen. Kenneth McKenzie (R) testify during a hearing before Senate Armed Services Committee at Dirksen Senate Office Building September 28, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong\/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley testify during a hearing before Senate Armed Services Committee at Dirksen Senate Office Building September 28, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Banks noted six Army leaders have been relieved over the vaccine mandate, and the Army has issued 3,182 general officer written reprimands to active duty soldiers over the mandate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow has this loss of leadership and focus on administrative burdens improved Army warfighting readiness and enhanced combat power?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n<p>Milley said he regretted that commanders were being relieved but said, \u201cWe\u00a0are an institution that has a sole set of requirements, in terms of the health of the force and shots and et cetera. And there\u2019s a policy, and our job is to enforce the policy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said despite the low average number of daily infections \u2014 less than 0.0001 percent of the total U.S. population \u2014 the vaccine mandate requirement will remain.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve seen variants of this \u2014 this virus, you know, wane and then grow again. And so this is a medical readiness requirement, and it will remain so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Breitbart News\u2019s Kristina Wong on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/kristina_wong\">Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kristinawongreporting\">Facebook<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley downplayed the effect of kicking out troops from the military for not complying with the Biden administration\u2019s military vaccine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1422699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1422699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1422699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1422699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1422699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}