OPINION:
I had to chuckle when I read that not only have the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff tested positive for COVID-19, but so has the secretary of the Navy (“Secretary of the Navy Del Toro going into quarantine after testing positive for COVID,” Web, Jan. 31).
As Everett Piper writes in “COVID-19 science or blind compliance” (Web, Jan. 30), 71% percent of COVID-19 cases are now coming from vaccinated individuals. Nearly 98% of servicemen and women are vaccinated. Doing the math, that puts vaccine effectiveness at about 27% — yet we are discharging able-bodied servicemen and women for declining to get the jab because not getting it is a “serious readiness issue”?
Can you imagine if military commanders were issuing to their soldiers ammunition that only worked 27% of the time and then ordering them to go attack the enemy? I’d be telling that commander to pack sand, regardless of the UCMJ requirement to obey orders.
PATRICK MCGINN
U.S. Marine Corps (retired)
California, Md.
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