No. of Recommendations: 17
Betrayal: What is really behind the outbreak of flu in the military
Lucian K. Truscott IV
Jun 24, 2026
All military recruits are once again required to get flu shots
"The sudden surge in cases of the flu in the Airforce basic training unit at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio is getting worse. Last week, 159 trainees were infected. Today, the Associated Press reports that there are at least 300 recruits who have been diagnosed with flu. The number of those sick enough to be hospitalized has increased from two to four. One recruit died last week after falling ill. The cause is still “under investigation,” after a week according to ABC News, which sounds like a coverup, because the test for flu is a simple one that can be done with a respiratory sample in 10 to 15 minutes.
The flare up of a preventable disease like the flu in a military unit is entirely due to the decision of Secretary of Dry Drunk Pete Hegseth making the flu vaccine voluntary in the military. Previously 100 percent of service personnel were required to get vaccinated every year for flu. Now that Hegseth has embraced the disease in favor of keeping it at bay, only 40 percent of trainees at Lackland Air Force Base opted to get the vaccine. Now, many of them are sick with the disease, at least four of them seriously, and it isn’t even flu season yet.
What made me want to write about this subject again was a realization I had this morning as I was walking Ruby. Just as colleges and universities operate in loco parentis with first year students, requiring them to live in dormitories under rules that at least attempt to restrain their behavior the first year they are away from home, so too does the military have the same responsibility to new recruits. It used to be that part of the pitch made by recruiters was, join up, and we’ll put a roof over your head, give you three squares every day, keep you healthy and give you a paycheck.
I remember the first time I walked into a barracks bay as a platoon leader. The military is one of the few large organizations that puts a 22-year-old in charge of 30 to 45 people. That’s a lot of responsibility. If the soldiers who were married and lived off post with their families got evicted or ran out of money and couldn’t feed their families, it was my problem as well as theirs. If soldiers were injured in training or got sick, it was my problem. I remember marching in formation to get flu shots at West Point. I remember marching my platoon to an old theater where they lined up to get flu shots with one of those high-pressure guns that fired the liquid vaccine straight through the skin. I remember driving soldiers to the dispensary for sick call when they came down with bronchitis or other communicable diseases.
Leaving soldiers vulnerable to easily preventable diseases is a betrayal of the responsibility of leaders to keep those soldiers healthy and safe. New recruits don’t ask to live in barracks sleeping in bunk beds within feet of each other. Young men and women who have spent the first 18 years of their lives being able to go into the family bathroom and close and lock the door for privacy don’t ask to use the same showers and toilets as other recruits or to eat three meals a day sitting with everyone else at a mess hall. You join the military, and you’re told what to do. Stand over there. Pick up that trash. Make your bed. Sit down and eat. Shoot that rifle. Get in the back of that truck with a dozen other recruits and be driven out to the boonies for training. Military commanders such as platoon leaders are there to ensure the truck doesn’t go into a ditch and turn over. They are responsible for seeing to it that soldiers don’t get shot accidentally at a firing range.
Leaders are also responsible for keeping soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen and airwomen healthy, so they don’t end up in a hospital and die from a disease like the flu.
Hegseth isn’t a leader. He’s an idealogue in an ill-fitting suit following the every whim of his patron, Donald Trump, so he doesn’t get fired. If Hegseth was a leader, he would not be selectively interfering in the promotion process to keep Black and female soldiers from being promoted to General to satisfy the anti-DEI agenda of the Republican Party.
If Hegseth was a leader, he wouldn’t be following the example set by the anti-vaccine loon running the government’s health department and cancelling vaccine mandates for military personnel.
It’s not easy being a leader in the military. You stand in front of 30 or 40 soldiers, and they look at you with the expectation that the orders you give them will be legitimate, they will have a purpose, and they will be legal. If the soldiers believe those things, they will follow you. If they don’t believe that you are carrying out your duty in a responsible way, they will figure out ways to get around you and your authority.
Every time you read a story that says there is chaos in the Pentagon because of something Hegseth has done, or some order he has given, you can be assured that people in the military are figuring out ways to stymie his ideological agenda, and if they can’t fix the problem Hegseth causes, they’ll come up with a way to get around it. Already, lower-level leaders at training commands have ordered that recruits be vaccinated for the flu to prevent new outbreaks of the disease. All recruits at Lackland Air Force Base have now been vaccinated. Military commanders have ordered that personnel be vaccinated who work in medical facilities, childcare centers, prisons, as first responders, and are deploying overseas or engaged in large training exercises. Hegseth didn’t give those orders to vaccinate members of the military. Lower-level commanders who are responsible for the health of their soldiers and sailors and Marines and airmen and airwomen gave the orders.
They are leaders. Hegseth is a follower."
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https://substack.com/home/post/p-203489559 