> I think historically there's probably been a lot of bigoted people in the service, but I'm not sure we should set policy to specifically cater to them just to

> I think historically there's probably been a lot of bigoted people in the service, but I'm not sure we should set policy to specifically cater to them just to bump recruitment numbers. This is a straw man point. Not wanting to be in a "woke" organization and having to constantly have stuff like sexuality bashed over your head that doesn't belong in a professional workplace doesn't necessarily mean that you're a bigot. > I don't think the US is trying to start trouble. I have friends from countries like Ukraine and Georgia that face big problems with Russia. Even though they don't necessarily always like Russia's government, they refer to the US as a literal spider, always sneaking around and trying to achieve power and play games everywhere. They tell me how the US meddles in their own politics and elections all of the time. Feel free to have your own belief, but your opinion is contrary to a lot of my own experience from people in the region. > Military service requires a ton of vaccinations and so antivaxxers were never jumping at the chance to sign on. Being against the Covid vaccine specifically doesn't necessarily imply that you are against all vaccines. I'm not trying to be insulting, but I'd like to express in the kindest way possible that the people that are very afraid of Covid do not seem to be informed about the other perspective very well at all. > I'd even suggest that we're probably better off without them anyway. If the concern is dwindling recruitment numbers, you do realize that a non-trivial percentage of the public is against the Covid vaccine, right? Maybe the military can limp along in peacetime without them, but God forbid there's ever a real national emergency that requires a unified response. > someone whose judgement you want to depend on being able to make quick decisions in a critical situation. Feel free to have your own opinion, but I have the exact opposite interpretation. Succumbing to peer pressure is weak-mindedness. Many people didn't want to take it, and knew it was the wrong choice, but did so because of peer pressure and not wanting to face any minor personal difficulty like not being able to see a concert for a few months. This is not an admirable quality. On the flipside, the people who did what they thought was right regardless of the personal difficulty it posed in their lives have demonstrated a remarkable bit of positive character. These people resisted the greatest government gaslighting event in the history of the world. Being able to say no when all of the institutions of the world are trying to get you to say yes is an honorable quality that shows a strength of will.