Thu Sep 22, 2022 – 4:04 pm EDT
(LifeSiteNews) – The National Guard is set to discharge nearly 14,000 Guardsmen for refusing to take mandatory COVID jabs over the next two years in the face of shrinking recruitment numbers.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Anson Smith, deputy chief of the Army National Guard Strength Maintenance Division, said the Guard is set to begin issuing discharge papers to soldiers who have not taken the jab pending a memo from the Army. About 9,000 Guardsmen are expected to be discharged during the 2023 fiscal year, set to begin on October 1, and another 5,000 during the following fiscal year. The discharges will include Guardsmen who filed medical and religious exemptions from the COVID jab.
According to chief of the National Guard Bureau, General Daniel Hokanson, the National Guard is currently at about 98% of its total force size for the current fiscal year with 336,000 Guardsmen and that any further loss in numbers could negatively impact the force. Hokanson also noted that the Air National Guard is at about 97% of its total force size at 108,000 members.
The potential discharges come as American armed forces are having
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