Fwd: [rawlife] Guardsman convicted for disobeying order

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I thought this should be circulated so the world could know

Lynda

 

 

 

http://www.marionstar.com/news/stories/20031214/localnews/36275.html

 

Guardsman convicted for disobeying order

 

AP

 

 

COLUMBUS (AP) -- An Ohio National Guard member was convicted on Saturday

of disobeying a direct order by refusing to be vaccinated against

anthrax.

 

After a military trial Saturday morning, Judge Emmett Moran recommended

that Kurt Hickman, 20, of Granville, serve 40 days in jail, be demoted

from specialist to private and be dishonorably discharged.

 

Hickman, an Ohio University junior whose unit is scheduled for deployment

in January, has refused to be vaccinated out of fear it will make him

sick.

 

The vaccine is known to have adverse effects ranging from headaches and

muscle aches to dizziness and difficulty breathing. Last month, the

Department of Defense said the vaccine may have caused the death of an

Army Reservist from Wisconsin.

 

A convening authority, which includes Guard leaders, will impose

punishment that could come as soon as next week, Guard spokesman James

Sims said.

 

The Defense Department requires troops going to high-risk areas for more

than 15 days to be vaccinated to protect them from biological warfare.

Other members in Hickman's unit, the 196th Mobile Public Affairs

Detachment, began the six-shot series in preparation for deployment next

month.

 

Since 1999, 2,700 Ohio National Guard members have received the anthrax

vaccine, Sims said. Hickman is the first Ohio member to refuse, he said.

 

In 1999, five Ohio Air National Guard members of the 123rd Air Control

Squadron of Cincinnati were discharged for refusing to take the vaccine

before being deployed to Asia, he said.

 

Many others, however, have left the military in the past three years

rather than submit to the vaccination, said John Richardson, a retired

lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve and an opponent of mandatory

anthrax vaccination.

 

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