Flu vaccine no longer mandated for US troops, Hegseth says
Note: He's a guy who refuses to so much as wash his hands
Modern influenza originated in Kansas, and was spread significantly by US troop deployments in WWI. It also killed tens of thousands of US soliders
Edit: now points to AP and not CBS.
https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-pentagon-flu-vaccine-mandate-us-military-ce6069bf42de217092f9ca3154764593Open linkView original on slrpnk.net275
Comments53
Imagine a 5000 person aircraft carrier crew fighting the flu while trying to work.
We won't have to imagine for long. Don't let your dreams be dreams
Don't forget about the nuclear subs.
Unless the CO is compromised, anyone who opts out will likely find themselves constantly "lucking out" and not going on deployments. The USN has some serious idiots in charge of our nuclear subs but they also really know how bad things get with contagions due a couple classified events.
I hear going to war with a sick army is a great idea.
Sick and malnourished now too.
Well there was that time an aircraft carrier was taken off the line because of rona, so not too hard to imagine how it would go.
Also the whole "man flu" thing is actually real. Testosterone has been shown to weaken parts of the immune system - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5075254/
Even just cruise ships, which are much less crowded, get ravaged by things like norovirus. Navy ships are packed with shit and people
Ugh, I don't even want to imagine what it's like being on a cruise ship full of norovirus.
While I am not a big fan of sailing and such, I am one of those rare assholes that absolutely doesn't get sea sick. That said, being surrounded by vomit and shit everywhere would probably be enough to overcome that mild superpower.
Much like this administration is packed with shit people.
I don't need to imagine it cuz I'm not stupid enough to serve the U.S. military.
Sounds like a them problem.
Maybe a dumb question and I don't know how the military works, but can they commander of the Sub or Carrier mandate it?
Ship crud is just a fact of life, perpetually not quite sick not quite well while your stuck on them. It wouldn't make much difference
LOL fucking assholes.
what was roe vs wade again
George Washington inoculated the army against smallpox in the revolutionary war.
These idiots don’t realize vaccinating the military is as American as it gets.
Well yeah but that only affected women.
Except your exposure to burn pits.
It's kind of crazy how they just continually do the worst possible thing and in the worst possible way. Always. Even basic common sense shit like we shouldn't let the flu decimate our military overnight. Even fucking George Washington required soldiers to be innoculared for smallpox. Just regression, bigotry, stupidity, and corruption at every single turn. Giving broken clocks a good look.
Frustrating waiting for people to realize it's all intentional.
I'm telling you it's going to convert me to believing in the antichrist. Every single time they pick the worst idea.
Decimate would be by 1/10th.
To reduce by 1/10th, yes.
From that 2019 article:
This is a man who attended more than one very expensive university and didn't learn a thing, then said this idiocy, immediately after which the world was hit by a pandemic, and again Hegseth didn't learn a thing. The guy must be terminally stupid.
Anyway, if you ever have the misfortune to meet Pete Hegseth, don't shake his shit-covered hand. Although he probably doesn't believe in wiping his ass or showering either. After all, a dirty butthole isn't real because you can't see it without using one of these new-fangled "mirror" gadgets.
I think the preferred term is "Proudly Ignorant"
Wilful ignorance was a key element in Dietrich Bonhoeffer's theory of stupidity. It was the aggressive resistance to learning that he thought made the stupid person especially dangerous. And we see this characteristic in Trump, his sycophants like Hegseth, and his followers.
100%
Imagine for a moment, that we were living in some crazy mirror-universe, where the regime's explicit goal was to sabotage America's capacity to project its will into the larger world.
In that scenario, what would we expect Hegseth to do differently?
Be a bit more subtle about it.
Never interrupt your enemy when they're making a mistake.
pete has the IQ of a potted palm.
But not the plant, just the pot
Reminds me of that Golden Girls episode where Sofia refers to mistaking two potted palms for the bathroom.
Alternative to CBS.
Edit: Switched source to AP original per reply.
Original Associated Press article instead of the syndication to the Connecticut Post.
Well, that's very fucking stupid.
Like giving Hegseth an axe.
The stupid drunk is listening to the nutter, RFK.
Look, get your vaccine! It’s, at worst, a waste of time. At best, saves your life.
That said, I went over 15 years never getting one and never ever got the flu. I even worked in pre-clinical pharmacy research for over a decade and know how it all works. I only recently started getting it again because I have a kid and I want to protect our family and be a better citizen to my community.
You probably got it. It was just mild enough or resembled a cold enough that you blew it off as something else.
Look at the nasal mist vaccines for your kid. Slightly less protection, but no needle. And you can get them by mail order and administer at home so that you don't need to organize an outing around the vaccine
Shouldn't this fall into the category of not telling the enemy your strategy or weaknesses? Pete's not very bright.
George Washington wished he could have had an easy vaccination solution like the military has today. Pete doesn't understand that historically disease often killed more troops than enemy attacks. Good defense starts with a healthy, immune fighting force.
That headline stating “modern influenza originated in Kansas” is bullshit. That is NOT what the article says. The so-called Spanish Flu of 1918 indeed is thought to have crossed over from birds in Kansas. But that is one flu, not the entirety of “modern” flu. Influenza can cross over anywhere at any time from most species. Ascribing human ethnicity or geographical locators associated with human populations is ridiculous.
This is strategically moronic.
A weaker U.S. military.
Probably a win for the world as a whole.
"So how much are they spending on vaccines? Yeah, no, drop that significantly, we'll get a bigger piece of the pie." -Lockheed CEO
For less than the individual price of some missiles, you could vaccinate the entire military. Vaccines are cheap. You could vaccinate thousands of soldiers for what it will cost to treat one who gets really sick and ends up hospitalized.
This is absolutely not a cost-saving measure, even if you wholly disregard the costs of care after the fact.
Even the German Nazis supported vaccination (of "worthy" people only), for crying out loud!
Iran is about to be the first country on earth to weaponize influenza A.
I support counter attacking aggressions by the american terrorist military with canisters full of some kind of flu or coronavirus.
Soon to learn what "seasoned" troops means.
I think they're likely to taste dry and stringy due to a lack of food.
Now, it's got a similar meaning to veteran. But it comes from back when all you had against disease were thoughts and prayers.
The seasoned ones were those that were left and well enough to fight after disease spread through camp.