The Honorable Nancy L. Johnson
2113 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Ms. Johnson:
I am writing to express my concern regarding the military’s mandatory Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program (AVIP). I am not a doctor and I do not have a wealth of information on anthrax or on vaccines at my disposal. As a former second-year officer, I am not an expert on military morale, retention, or even on military life in general. I don’t believe that I can offer any evidence or facts that you have not yet seen. I think I can, however, provide you with an idea of what kind of effect this disturbing program had on a young, hopeful, newly commissioned junior officer in a navy desperate for personnel.
All throughout my college career, I felt that the military experience was an invaluable one. I felt that I would, in a sense, be missing out on an excellent opportunity to learn a great many things that could not be taught in a classroom if I did not spend at least a few years serving in the United States Armed Forces.
After seeing my younger brother bravely enlist in the U.S. Navy after his senior year of high school and with the encouragement of my father, an Attorney and former Naval Officer, I decided that I would apply for a commission upon my graduation from college. I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and signed on the dotted line with the intention of becoming an officer in the Navy Supply Corps. I was also hopeful that I would enjoy serving in the Navy enough to want to make it a career as opposed to only a few years.
I entered Navy Officer Candidate School (OCS) in September 1998. My Enlisted Marine Drill Instructor, Gunnery Sergeant White, instantly demanded, and earned, my respect and admiration. He is forever ingrained in my memory as the ideal model of the American fighting man, previously known to me only as images on a TV or movie screen, but now as real-life flesh and blood.
With sweat, pain, and volume as his tools, he instilled in me a sense of pride that I thought could never be undone. I wanted to make this man proud of me. I wanted to earn his respect, as he had earned mine. At any given moment throughout my time in the Navy, even as a pencil-pushing Supply Corps Officer, I would have picked up a gun and followed him into battle without thinking twice. I still would.
After I graduated from OCS and earned my humble half-inch gold stripe, I looked at the American Flag differently. I thought of Gunnery Sergeant White, and the men like him who made the ultimate sacrifice to make this great country what it is today whenever I rendered a sharp, proud salute. There was not a single U.S. Admiral prouder of his two-inch stripe than I was of my half-inch stripe.
While I was at OCS, my younger brother, a Machinist Mate serving onboard the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower was ordered to submit to the AVIP. After asking the advice of our parents, a Registered Nurse and an Attorney, and after researching the issue, he decided to refuse a direct order.
While I was studying at the Naval Supply Corps School in Athens, GA, my younger brother was disciplined and eventually received a general discharge under honorable conditions for refusing to submit to the AVIP. I began to keep a close eye on the issue, especially on Capitol Hill, since proponents of the AVIP have claimed that this minor uprising is a result of internet-spawned rumors.
Thanks to the Internet, I have easy access to testimony and evidence provided to our representatives in Washington, and I am convinced that my brother and I made the right choice. I have seen an overwhelming amount of testimony illustrating the dangers of the program. I found that the little bit of official testimony made by Department of Defense (DoD) spokesmen neither answered the questions nor addressed the claims of AVIP opponents. I also felt that the AVIP proponents, not unlike the tobacco industry, continuously dodged many facts and questions that they were presented with.
In light of that testimony, I also eventually decided to refuse the order if I was faced with it. However, I remained hopeful that either the program would be stopped dead in its tracks before long, or that the DoD would provide me with credible information that would address the questions that stemmed from the House testimony. I graduated from Supply Corps School and reported to my first ship, the USNS Niagara Falls, which was deployed in the Persian Gulf. The second day at the command, I was confronted with the order, and was provided with numerous DoD documents that attempted to justify the vaccination. Needless to say, I found these evasive documents grossly inadequate to allay my fears and concerns, and I refused the order. After two weeks, I was sent back to San Diego where I went through non-judicial punishment, was disciplined and was eventually discharged.
Despite my limited Military Experience, one thing I can attest to is the shoddy record keeping practices still common in the United States Navy. In November 1998, while I was going through Officer Candidate School, I along with my fellow officer candidates received a flu shot. In late May/early June 1999, while I was finishing up at Supply Corps School, my classmates and I were told we needed to receive a flu shot. When several other classmates and I explained that we had received this flu shot while at OCS, we were told that although it was the same shot, we would need to take it again since no entry had been recorded in our records. It seems that the sloppy record keeping methods that the Gulf War Veterans who contracted Gulf War Illnesses are so familiar with are still prevalent today, despite Defense Department assurances to the contrary.
There is no doubt in my mind that I made the right decision and that I will recover from this blow. I am not at all concerned with the effects that being discharged for refusing vaccination might have on my future. I am an intelligent, hard-working, dedicated individual and I will “adapt, improvise and overcome” as my OCS Drill Instructor so often preached. I remain convinced that the DoD has lost just as much, if not more, than I have. I have no major regrets.
In any relationship, the first impression is often the most important. As a young officer with no prior military service, I had not yet formed a first impression of the military when I started looking into this issue. I had not yet had the chance to develop the bond that so many senior servicemembers have with their Navy as a result of numerous mutually beneficial experiences. OCS, while it is a very positive and satisfying experience, is not the real military, and I knew this while I was going through it. Sadly, my first and last major impression of the military was the one I formed based on the Department’s attempted enforcement of a highly questionable health policy without offering complete and unbiased facts to support it. Any reasonable man that takes the time to research this issue can see that there are numerous valid concerns and questions that the DoD has made little or no attempt to answer. The fact that they expect all of their uniformed defenders to blindly roll up their sleeves with a smile and submit to the AVIP as if there is nothing wrong left a horrible impression in my mind. It suggested that they think nothing more of their people in uniform as dumb muscle, good for blocking bullets or testing vaccines, but not for thinking for themselves or for being able to recognize and question what is, at best, a problematic policy directly affecting their health.
All of the pride, enthusiasm and vim and vinegar I had been pumped full of during my 13-week stay at OCS took a back seat to the new feeling of disgust and lack of faith I developed for those at the top of my chain of command. I can’t express how discouraged I am that I can no longer wear the gold stripe that I worked so hard for. I still try to think of all the right things when I see the American Flag waving overhead, but now all the good is overshadowed by the ugly treatment that the servicemembers, past and present, of this great nation have routinely received from those at the helm in Washington. At the time that I signed on the dotted line, I would have dismissed accusations such as Agent Orange, radiation testing, and the mysterious gulf war illnesses as hearsay and conjecture. Now I am not so sure. I find it difficult to believe that this issue has fallen upon so many deaf ears in Washington. Please consider this matter carefully and offer your support to those who have selflessly volunteered to put their lives on the front line of defense for this great country.
I wish that I could say that I wanted to remain in the service, but that is not entirely true. I had lost all faith in those at the top of my chain of command, and I had no desire to serve under leadership that failed to look after the best interests of its servicemembers. I loved the uniform, but I had few other reservations and I did not hesitate to leave it behind. I believe it is being disgraced by those at the top. Perhaps those that are no longer in the trenches of today’s military have forgotten what it is like.
As I was preparing to leave the service, I talked to several of my peers about my situation. A fellow young officer mentioned that half the people at his command had refused the vaccine, and that his Commanding Officer was just “looking the other way”. A young Petty Officer mentioned that there were other ways around this vaccine; he had simply gotten a hold of his medical record and made a few scribbles in certain places. He assured me that he would never submit to the vaccine, even though his record would show otherwise. Who knows how many similar cases are occurring out there in the trenches? If fewer people are submitting to the vaccine than the DoD believes, the percentage of people who have taken the vaccine and whose health has suffered as a result is actually higher than it appears. I have no confidence in any of the numbers that the DoD is offering to Congress. I would suggest that you take any numbers offered by them with a grain of salt.
I was lucky and was not subjected to the numerous forms of harassment and persecution that some of my shipmates have had to endure, perhaps because I was an officer. My immediate superiors in my chain of command displayed a commendable air of professionalism in the way that they handled my refusal. But the unjust and inhumane treatment that has occurred onboard ships such as the USS Constellation and others is another reason I no longer desire to serve our country in this manner.
I hope I was able to provide you with an idea of what went through a young serviceman’s head as a direct result of the current AVIP. I believe that the military will continue to have problems with recruiting and retaining intelligent young blood as long as policies such as these prevail.
I appreciate your time and your consideration of my thoughts.
Sincerely,
Mr. Brian Gerald Boylan
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Last revised: March 2001