WorldNetDaily writer J.M. Phelps loves to complain that members of the military faced consequences for disobeying lawful orders to get vaccinated. That continued in an Aug. 14 article:
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 mandate era, tens of thousands of service members who were forced to leave the U.S. military, or who left on their own over the issue, are now being invited back. However, relatively few have expressed a desire to return to a military that, not long ago, trampled on their freedoms.
On July 26, Stuart Scheller, senior adviser to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, turned his focus to the reinstatement process. While many commended him for his effort, he also made a statement that heightened the concerns of those who were negatively impacted by the 2021 mandate and who continue to demand that some senior military leaders be held accountable for illegally enforcing the experimental shot.
In fact, the COVID vaccines have received full federal approval and, thus, are not “experimental.” Phelps continued to grumble:
WorldNetDaily spoke to retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Darin Gaub, a former UH-60 Black Hawk pilot and battalion commander.
“Quite disappointed” by Scheller’s lack of response, Gaub said, “Those who have risked a lot and lost a lot in the fight for liberty are begging and asking for transparency from every agency.” Service members and veterans, as well as the American people, want “absolute truth and honesty from everybody involved,” he added.
Failure to demand accountability on behalf of the tens of thousands of service members adversely affected by the COVID-19 mandate is “a break in trust with the very people who make the military what it is,” said Gaub. “It doesn’t matter what else you do, because if you break trust and refuse to restore it to the people who make up the military, your military will never be as strong and as sound as you want it to be.”
“You have to have accountability to restore trust,” he added, “and those who willingly and knowingly violated laws and ethical standards to push the jabs need to be held accountable regardless of rank or position.” Whatever “the smoke and mirrors or the cover story” military leaders who enforced the mandate try to create, he said, “they need to be held 100 percent accountable.”
[…]What would accountability look like? For Gaub, it would mean some senior military leaders considered for courts-martial. He would even advocate that such proceedings be televised, to show the American people that law breakers, even in the military, will not be tolerated. In addition, he said, “their retirement grade should be based on their last known honorable conduct,” which would have occurred before the now-rescinded 2021 vax mandate.
Bottom line, said the former Army chopper pilot and battalion commander: “If you can’t promise the people sitting at home that their children will not be put in the same position and not have to suffer the consequences” of upholding their moral and religious convictions to object to an unproven and experimental shot, “you’ll never have the best and brightest of America go into a system that’s going to chew them up and spit them out.”
As before, Phelps does not explain why it is OK for a military person to violate a lawful order, or what “moral and religious convictions” there could possibly be to getting vaccinated. He then found an anonymous Air Force officer “who asked to have his name withheld for this story” to fearmonger more:
“While I share the Department of Defense’s desire to move forward,” he acknowledged, “I would like to see some significant increases in medical freedom in the DoD.” For example, he noted, “There’s no reason to lose service members over a flu shot or a Japanese encephalitis vaccine.”
No explanation was offered on why anyone should have a legitimate objection to getting vaccinated.
Phelps had happier (for him) anti-vaxxer news in a Sept. 4 article:
U.S. Air Force Maj. Brennan Schilperoort, a grounded C-130 pilot who faced financial penalties and discrimination for several years over his claim to a religious exemption from taking mandated flu shots, has finally achieved a measure of justice in his lengthy struggle against military leadership, as revealed in an exclusive report by this writer.
According to a Sept. 2 press release by Younts Law, which represents Schilperoort, “On August 13, 2025 – twenty months after Major Schilperoort’s initial Inspector General (IG)complaint, its denial, and subsequent appeals – the Air Force Inspector General overruled prior findings by subordinate Inspectors General. The IG substantiated Major Schilperoort’s complaint that his commander unlawfully issued a Letter of Reprimand and refused to process his December 2023 flu shot religious accommodation request.”
As Schilperoort’s legal counsel R. Davis Younts posted on X, the determination is a “huge victory for religious freedom in the military.”
WorldNetDaily spoke to Maj. Schilperoort, who emphasized up-front that his views do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Defense or Department of the Air Force.
Yet again, Phelps does not explain what, exactly, the “religious exemption” to a vaccine could possibly be — which suggests that Schilperoort may have invented such an exemption to justify his anti-vaxxer ideology. And if Schilperoort has to add the disclaimer that his anti-vaxxer views aren’t representative of the military, that’s a bigger red flag that he is an exception. Phelps concluded:
For the C-130 military transport pilot, “It’s past [the] time that all the weight of accountability falls downhill, while those at the top who are most responsible get to walk away scot-free.” Rather, insists Schilperoort, “This nation is demanding accountability and fair and equal treatment of the law for all, where not a one is ‘more equal’ than others.”
It seems, though, that Schilperoort is the one who doesn’t want accountability to apply to him, given that he has provided no reason for his “religious exemption” to be treated seriously.