First Class Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer Chad Watson and his team were recently praised by Joe Biden over their role in rescuing citizens in Florida who were impacted by the destruction of Hurricane Ian.
Today, Watson is one of about 20,000 service members facing termination over Biden’s own military COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
On Tuesday Watson joined “Fox & Friends” to explain why he is refusing to take the controversial injections.
“It doesn’t change the grounds on why we’re refusing the vaccine in the first place,” Watson told the “Fox & Friends” panel. “It’s faith-based. We don’t agree with how it was developed, and we don’t agree that it’s also necessary. COVID seems to be very mild symptoms for us that are in excellent health and given our job, we’re required to be in excellent health.”
Watson filed a religious exemption over the mandate, which was ultimately denied. He filed an appeal in response, only for that to be denied again. He is only two years away from retirement.
“I’m sure there are people saying, why don’t you just get the shot?” Fox News host Steve Doocy asked the Coast Guard hero.
“Because my faith and my belief is more important than that,” Watson responded. “If I compromise that, I compromise everything I stand for.”
All branches of the U.S. armed forces area currently experiencing a recruitment shortage amid the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates and growing tensions overseas, with the U.S. Army’s recruitment efforts falling short to the tune of 25% for the year 2022.
“In the Army’s most challenging recruiting year since the start of the all-volunteer force, we will only achieve 75% of our fiscal year 22 recruiting goal,” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said in a statement to The Associated Press.
“The Army will maintain its readiness and meet all our national security requirements. If recruiting challenges persist, we will draw on the Guard and Reserve to augment active-duty forces, and may need to trim our force structure.”
When asked if he believes that the U.S. military will be able to afford losing 20,000 service members over the mandates amidst the ongoing recruitment shortage, Watson said “They really can’t but I’ll be okay.”
“I’ll make it happen. I’ll provide for my family, but I would really like to keep doing this job. It’s fantastic,” he explained. “There’s a direct impact on the people that we encounter that are in dire need of help, and we’re all good at it, and we would like to keep doing that.”
This news and media by Andrew White originally appeared on Valiant News.
