A retired U.S. Coast Guard vice admiral slammed the Biden administration on Monday for “purging hundreds of dedicated sailors” over the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, noting that President Joe Biden himself has declared “the Pandemic is over.”
Retired Vice Admiral William Dean Lee of the U.S. Coast Guard posted an open letter on Facebook arguing that the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate impacting the Department of Defense and Coast Guard is “outdated.” TerminalCWO — a popular social media handle that shares military whistleblower claims, leaks and complaints — first reported on Lee’s letter.
“The American people have moved on. The President himself has declared ‘the Pandemic is over.’ Yet, we continue holding fast to an outdated mandate, purging hundreds of dedicated sailors, even though we struggle to meet our recruiting goals,” Lee wrote. “The legality of the order itself is under significant scrutiny, with at least three federal injunctions in place. The CDC just issued new guidance that advises that the vaccinated and the unvaccinated need not be treated differently.”
“It’s time to pause and reevaluate whether, for some demographics at least, the cure has become worse than the (diminishing) disease, and, in the case of the military’s mandate, whether material violations of law have occurred,” he continued. “Science has rapidly moved forward, but DOD inexplicably is not keeping up.”
Lee added that people in distress don’t care if their rescuers have the vaccine.
“As your previous Atlantic Area Commander, I ask you, how do you expect to support surge operations for natural disasters if they can’t even cover their own duty schedules? Does anyone in their right mind think that a distressed fisherman treading water in the Gulf of Alaska really cares about the vax status of his rescuer? Certainly not. The only thing he cares about is whether there is someone on duty to rescue him,” Lee’s letter stated. “This, sir, is truly the more important matter.”
“Which town(s), which cities, which coastlines, do you recommend we leave unprotected just to punish these devoted public servants?” he added. “Police and Fire responders have seen the light – they have adjusted to changed circumstances — why can’t others?”
Lee warned that the men and women of the Coast Guard and other service members are “becoming uncomfortable” and “trust is eroding as our sailors question the motives and judgment of those who, despite the evidence, are sticking to a mandate that is no longer necessary; who have resorted to apparently unlawful measures to continue enforcing it; who have embraced a culture with ideologies antithetical to unit cohesion; that divides people into identity groups; and that promotes the acceptance – without question – of flags and symbols that may be offensive to men and women of faith.”
Lee’s letter comes just days after President Biden personally thanked a U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer for saving people’s lives as Hurricane Ian slammed Florida. The heroic rescue swimmer is currently facing discharge due to Biden’s military-wide COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
