Former Army lieutenant colonel speaks out after losing career for refusing COVID jab

(LifeSiteNews) – Refusing a COVID-19 vaccine was a “no-brainer” despite the career ramifications, says former U.S. Army Lt. Col. Bradley Miller.

In October 2021, Miller was relieved of his position as battalion commander in the 101st Airborne Division for not taking the mandatory shot and opted to resign completely the following January.

“I was very well aware of the ramifications my decision would have for my command, my career, and my retirement,” Miller told American Family News in comments published Tuesday. “But in my mind, I was placed in a situation where I had to choose the harder right over the easier wrong.”

He lamented being forced to “either choose the Army or choose the country,” and that in his view “far too many leaders of the military have turned their back on the country,” despite the fact that “the Armed Forces exist to protect the country – it’s not the other way around.”

Despite losing not only his career but his retirement pension, Miller said “there’s not a day that has gone by where I have ever regretted the decision that I made […] It felt like my continued service would have constituted an unspoken endorsement of everything that was going on [surrounding the military vaccine mandate] – and I was not going to have that. My values no longer aligned with the values of the senior leadership of the Department of Defense.”

Last August, at the direction of President Joe Biden, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered the secretaries of all military branches to “immediately begin full [COVID] vaccination of all members of the Armed Forces” and “impose ambitious timelines for implementation.” The majority of service members complied, but tens of thousands remain unvaccinated, with many seeking exemptions.