STATE
Wallowa County Chieftain
A16
Wednesday, July 13, 2022
OREGON NATIONAL GUARD
Unvaccinated soldiers barred from drilling with units
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
The Oregon National
Guard is barring mem-
bers who have not fol-
lowed orders to be vacci-
nated against COVID-19
from taking part in military
duties, offi cials confi rmed
Thursday, July 7.
The action could lead to
termination or delays in pay
and some benefi ts, accord-
ing to a U.S. Department
of Defense announcement.
Continued refusal could lead
to separation from the mili-
tary altogether.
“This is a lawful order
and is in line with other
required vaccinations for
readiness of the force,” said
Lt. Col. Stephen Bomar,
spokesman for the Oregon
National Guard. “As with
other mandatory vaccina-
tions, legitimate medical and
religious exemptions will be
acknowledged with respect,
compassion and dignity.”
The Department of
Defense issued an order in
August 2021 that all mili-
tary personnel be vaccinated
against COVID-19. The
Army said the announce-
ment this week would aff ect
about 62,000 service mem-
bers out of a total force of
over 1 million soldiers.
About 97% of the 8,000
members of the Oregon
National Guard have com-
plied with the order by get-
ting vaccinated, starting
the vaccination process, or
going through the admin-
istrative approvals to get
exemptions or accommoda-
tions, Bomar said.
The Oregon National
Guard declined to provide
an exact number of mem-
bers not in compliance or
seeking waivers, citing pri-
vacy and appeals processes.
If 97% of the Oregon
National Guard is in compli-
ance, that would leave 3%,
or about 240 members.
Bomar said decisions on
U.S. ARMED FORCES
Contributed Photo
The Oregon National Guard is barring members who have not followed orders to be vaccinated
against COVID-19 from taking part in military duties.
exemptions are scheduled to
be completed by Oct. 1.
“No adverse actions
will take place against
Guard members with pend-
ing or approved exemption
requests,” Bomar said.
If a service member’s
permanent medical exemp-
tion or religious accommo-
dation request is denied they
have the right to appeal that
decision within 30 days.
If the appeal is unsuc-
cessful, the service member
has the option of being vac-
cinated or being considered
to have refused the order to
be vaccinated.
“The specifi c number of
days from receiving a fi nal
denial to being considered
to have refused the vaccine
is scheduled to come out in
a future order,” Bomar said.
Summer is the time
when many National Guard
units go through their man-
datory two-week training,
often working with active-
duty personnel. Ahead of
those assignments, the U.S.
Army announced plans to
enforce vaccination dead-
lines that had been previ-
ously announced.
“Members of the Army
National Guard and U.S.
Army Reserve who have
refused the lawful Depart-
ment of Defense COVID-19
vaccination order without an
approved or pending exemp-
tion may not participate in
federally funded drills and
training and will not receive
pay or retirement credit,”
according to the Army state-
ment Thursday.
The order has the biggest
impact on the Army, which
accounts for just under half
of all uniformed person-
nel and 75% of all National
Guard members.
The overwhelming major-
ity of service members have
complied with the order.
The Army has just over 1
million soldiers in service,
with 480,000 on active duty.
There are 336,000 National
Guard members and 189,500
U.S. Army reservists.
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Total force: 1 million
Total force: 399,500
Active duty: 480,000
Active duty: 340,500
Reserves: 180,500
Reserves: 59,000
National Guard: 336,000
Marine Corps:
Air Force:
Total force: 224,700
Total force: 510,000
Active duty: 186,200
Active duty: 332,800
Reserves: 38,500
Reserves: 70,100
Source: US Department of De-
fense manpower report, FY2020
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“Maintaining readiness
continues to be among the
U.S. Army’s highest priori-
ties.” said a statement from
the U.S. Army command at
the Pentagon near Washing-
ton, D.C. “We are fully com-
mitted to ensuring all sol-
diers are vaccinated against
COVID-19.”
The Pentagon said 40,000
National Guard members
and 22,000 reservists were
not yet in compliance with
the order.
Since the pandemic
spread to the United States
in early 2020, the Defense
Department has worried
about the impact of the virus
on military readiness around
the globe. Nonuniformed
personnel were moved off -
base at many installations.
Troops went through quaran-
tine periods before and after
deployments overseas.
Initially, the military
reported high-profi le out-
breaks, particularly in the
contained spaces of Navy
ships at sea. An outbreak in
2020 aboard the USS Theo-
dore Roosevelt infected over
1,000 sailors, about a quarter
of the crew. One sailor died
and the ship was quarantined
for two months in Guam,
with readiness maintained
by the crew rotating between
the land base and ship.
Overall, the Pentagon
credits the policies as suc-
cessful at maintaining mili-
tary capabilities even as the
2.5-year-old pandemic has
sickened 552.8 million peo-
ple around the world, kill-
ing 6.35 million, according
to the Johns Hopkins Coro-
navirus Resource Center.
In the U.S., more than 88.2
million infections have been
reported and over 1 million
people have died.
Once vaccines became
available in late 2020, the
Pentagon put an early pri-
ority on ensuring the inocu-
lation of active-duty forces.
Vaccination was required of
uniformed personnel under
an order issued in August
2021. Eff ective July 1 of
this year, the Pentagon said
National Guard and reserv-
ists would not be allowed
to drill or deploy with their
units if unvaccinated.
Following the Depart-
ment of Defense order last
August, much of the focus
has been on compliance
with activity duty units.
The Army said that as of
June 21, it had discharged or
accepted the retirements of
1,037 soldiers for “refusing
the lawful order to receive
the COVID-19 vaccine.”
About the
National Guard
National Guard members
are civilians who serve part-
time in the U.S. Army or
U.S. Air Force.
The National Guard is
a part of the U.S. military
that traces its roots back to
the colonial militias in 1636.
It is one of three compo-
nents of the American armed
forces, along with the regu-
lar active duty service mem-
bers and reservists.
According to the Depart-
ment of Defense, there are
2.14 million uniformed per-
sonnel serving in the four
Department of Defense
branches: Army, Air Force,
Navy and Marine Corps.
Full-time active duty
personnel accounts for 1.4
million service members.
They are supplemented
by a “selected reserve” of
800,800 part-time uniformed
personnel
—
357,100
reservists in each branch,
and 443,700 National Guard
members who serve with the
Army and Air Force.
Reservists in the U.S.
military are civilians who
have a minimum commit-
ment to training each year.
They can only be called to
active duty by the president.
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