My Military Husband, The Scapegoat

Before we dive in today, I want to say something. This post is from me, relaying some of the things that my husband was able to share with me in the midst of the military's ass backwards way they handled the Covid-19 vaccine issue among members. This post is not political. This post is to share how I, as a veteran and military spouse, watched what happened to my active duty husband and felt helpless. I am also changing up some terminology so anyone that hasn't served in the military can understand the chain of events a little easier. The comments will get turned off if there becomes a problem. Thank you!

Our first date night since our daughter was born at the military ball in the fall of 2019.

Last week I started gushing about my husband and the amazing military career that he has had. I left off being cryptic about why I'm most proud and that was to keep y'all coming back! If you missed the last post, you can click here or see the related post section and then come back.

Now that you're all caught up, let's take it back to 2020. My husband started his Masters from Georgetown University in something like IT Management and Security (I would check his huge diploma on his wall downstairs be he opted for the one in Latin...and I don't read Latin) in the midst of the pandemic. How this happened? He applied, was interviewed and then his branch of the military selected him from a group of applicants to basically become a full time student, remain active duty, be paid as such, but his job was to go to school and as long as he passed the military foot the whole bill. So that's what he did and he crushed it!

He was in an accelerated program as well and finished his degree in about 1.5 years. He is absolutely smart but he does have times like this week when we had nachos for dinner and he asked me how long he needed to put his stuff in the oven for and I looked at him like we haven't done this dozens of times and I said, "I don't know bro...until your cheese is melted." Direct quote! Anyway. He reports all of his school stuff back to the military and gets his orders. He's back at his previous workplace but in a different unit. He's so excited for his new roll and guess what happens his first week back? I bet you can't guess.

He was voluntold that he was going to be part of a board that would be approving and denying religious accommodations. Let's back up for a second. Did you read up there what my husband got his degree in? He spent the first half of his career as an IT on the enlisted side and an IT officer in all kinds of capacities as an officer. While he has his own religious views, he is not a priest, pastor, any kind of church leader. He isn't in the medical field and only knows what the requirements for a religious accommodation is from the manuals. What makes him qualified to approve and deny these requests? Nothing. He even asked that same question and he was told that there would be guidelines for him to follow.

Now the boards have convened. In the first day each person is handed stacks of packages from people requesting a religious accommodation to exempt them from getting the Covid-19 vaccine. Before really diving in, my husband asks a simple question. He sees the denial template for those requests getting denied and he asked where the approval template was. The lawyer told him there was no approval template and that all requests were to be denied. So why have a board? Great question...I asked the same thing...and so did most of the people in the room with him. If no one was getting approved then why bother pulling people from their jobs to do this.

After pushing from my husband and another person, they were finally given an approval template however word came back that even if the board approved a request it would ultimately end up denied. My husband and the other person both expressed that THAT response would be opening up the military for law suits (nothing subtle in that foreshadowing huh). The requests that my husband saw were from people who already had the religious accommodation in place. These are people who the military has already told they were exempt from certain vaccines because of their religious beliefs so why are they having to request it again if they've already been approved once? That's a great question that doesn't have an answer.

Fast forward to the summer of 2022 (I think). We're getting our house ready to sell and buying a new house that we plan to make our forever home when OUT OF THE BLUE my husband is called into his supervisor's office and told that he is being investigated. Here's the thing. Even as an officer there are steps that should be taken prior to this "investigation". The issues are to be addressed verbally, if continued then there is a formal written warning, and if it still continues then you go to mast. Remember last week when I said he got stellar reviews on his evals? At what point did he make a sharp 180 turn and screw up? Not a clue but guess who else was getting investigated? If you guessed the other person that gave push back in the board with him then you'd be correct!

When my husband was finally presented with the full document of all the "issues" he was being investigated for, it was several HUNDRED pages of bull and he was told that he was not allowed to have a copy (red flag number 1) and when he asked to face his accuser he was told no (red flag number 2) and when he saw where the accusing party's office was supposed to be, it was non-existent office/department (red flag number 3). There were so many red flags that I can't even begin to tell you about. Do I have you hooked? Great! Come back next week as we dive into more of this BS!