Tuesday shorts
You thought vaccine disputes were over, right? Not in the Navy!
Amanda Johnson, a Marine spouse and homeschooling mother of five with a set of twins and a newborn is speaking out after months of what she calls stonewalling by the U.S. military medical establishment.
Her family’s upcoming move abroad has been put on hold because their children have not received all the recommended vaccinations despite the Navy’s policy stating they’re not required.
I’m normally an immunization supporter – I have friends to this day who got polio as kids and still have issues 70 years later, so I am not unbiased. But reread that last quoted line above, and read the govspeak original.
Official Navy policy under BUMEDINST 1300.2B is clear: “Family members are not required to be immunized.”
Similarly, TRICARE, healthcare for uniformed service members, explicitly states that “vaccination status is not reviewed as part of the TRICARE overseas enrollment screening process.” And the Johnsons’ destination, Peru, does not require any vaccinations for entry or residence.
Gets better. Marine Capt. Hunter Johnson, Amanda’s spouse, chimes in:
“Our children have not been, and will not be, enrolled in childcare. My wife is fully devoted to their daily care,” he wrote. “We homeschool using Time4Learning and limit exposure to institutional illness risks.
“Peru has no vaccination requirements… My continued presence is essential to our family’s stability. This is not a deployment, it’s a PCS [permanent change of station].”
Despite that, Amanda Johnson says Navy Medical Jacksonville denied the package and falsely claimed last month it had been sent to Naval Medical Atlantic Region for final review. Fox News
A couple of Congresscritters have become interested and are getting involved. Read the article. Reads like someone is playing petty bureaucrat.
Navy related, in a sadder way: a submarine lost in 1917 – yes, WWI – has been found in the waters off San Diego.
The USS F-1 submarine sank in seconds after it was badly damaged in a collision with another U.S. Navy submarine. Nineteen of its crew drowned in the accident, and three were rescued by the other sub.
It now lies on the seafloor at a depth of more than 1,300 feet (400 meters). That’s too deep for human divers, so the wreck was surveyed by operators in the human-occupied underwater vehicle (HOV) Alvin and the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Sentry, which were based on the WHOI research ship Atlantis.
“USS F-1 was conducting a 48-hour engineering run and performance test traveling from San Pedro and San Diego, CA, when the accident occurred,” Krueger told Live Science in an email. “[Navy submarines] USS F-2 and USS F-3 were alongside performing similar testing when all three vessels entered a fog bank. USS F-3 collided with USS F-1, and following the collision USS F-3 remained on scene to help rescue survivors from the water.”
The wreck is now a war grave for the 19 crew who died in the 1917 accident. WHOI and the Navy agreed not to make contact with the wreck, “to preserve its condition and be respectful of its legacy,” he said.LiveScience
Amen.
And something to watch – that “Big, Beautiful Spending Bill” that just passed by one vote in the House? Included is section 2 of the Hearing Protection Act – which would remove suppressors from the NFA. If anyone has ever bought a suppressor, you know how painful a process it is – fingerprints, pay a $200 punitive tax, wait until they run background checks, you have to have BATFE’s mother-may-I with you at all times when you are using the suppressor. Their original inclusion in the NFA was due almost completely to Hollywood, who made them the gangster’s accessory of choice (you know, snap something that looks like a champagne cork onto your revolver (!) and get absolutely no muzzle blast) – trust me, in reality you can hear a suppressed weapon REALLY WELL.
Guns are the one area I can think of where legally you have to endanger your hearing and be as noisy as possible. Run a car with a bad muffler, you get a ticket for being too loud. Get caught using an unregistered suppressor? Not going to end well . If you feel strongly on it, contact your Senator – the bill has to pass the Senate next.
You can hear some suppressed weapons really well, others not so much. My .22s when using subsonics you won’t hear. The actions are suppressed too so you “might” hear the brass hitting the ground on pavement but you won’t hear the weapon cycle either.
You won’t hear my 9mm carbine either with subsonics. The action will give a little clack-clack and that will register about 50′ away.
There was a suppressed .45 M1 “Grease Gun” in our arms room in the Viet of the Nam. I took it down to the beach next to our company area in Chu Lai. I fired a couple of magazines at some beer cans in the water. I was surprised at how quiet it was. But it was missing an asbestos doughnut that went on the chamber face to quiet the sound of the bolt slamming forward. Therefore, it made a loud clacking sound.
The background checks are FINALLY taking days rather than months to complete. The last one I purchased through Silencer Shop required only eight days for the eForm 4 to be approved. And that was with the Single Shot Trust. Of course, I still had to pay the $200 tax.
It would be great to NOT have to jump through all of these hoops.
What would be better than removing suppressors from the NFA, would be repealing the entire NFA.
“…playing petty bureaucrat…” Sounds like they need to be hunting for another job.
And now their resting place is known. It’s not just a “shipwreck site”…it’s a Grave Site. Treat it as such.
Everybody wants a “can” for their Boom Sticks…except for Marvin…Marvin likes the sound of an “Earth Shattering”…KA-BOOOOM!
Only if it uses a Q-38 Explosive Space Modulator.
I think you mean Q-36… the 38 was an inferior replacement.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Marvin+the+Matian+Q-38+Space+Modulator#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:6322d394,vid:QuUJfYcn3V4,st:0
Sorry. It’s been awhile. IIRC (from one or two of Marvin’s ‘toons), it was an Illudium PU-236 Explosive Space Modulator. That is, IIRC.
So if the USMC Captain’s wife gets sick, or breaks her leg, who will take care of her five children (including the newborn)?
Her husband, who would be full time active duty OCONUS, would leave his post to stay home?
Because DOD schools and DOD child care can and does require vaccinations for the protection of the other children at the center. So are they really expecting to spend three years (the length of a typical married-accompanied PCS tour) without ever needing or wanting day care or schooling for their children?
The article doesn’t even say what vaccinations — if any — the children have had. Routine MMR? Polio?
The Navy has good reason to inquire and to be assured that HIS duties come first, and their failure to immunize their children will not work against his performance of his duty.
Their choice, their consequences.
The problem here is; the vaccines are not required…the Navy has said so…but the Navy says they have to be vaccinated…soooo….which is it? It can’t be both. Somebody up the chain has his head up his ass.
I haven’t known cases of Smallpox but I have known victims of polio! In ‘iron lungs’! Although their lives were somewhat extended, they only survive flat on their back viewing their surrounding with a carefully placed mirror, being fed, watered and bathed with round the clock caregivers with the loving kindness of a new mother, well hell yeah, don’t bother yourselves with the protection of vaccinations. No need to waste this precious stuff!! Just stf up and stay away from everyone and everything, especially me and mine. YOU are probably a trans. Transmitter. Gawd!
How many DoD schools are in PERU?