Interview with 'anti-vax' soldiers : "I'm a soldier but my country no longer wants me because I refuse the vaccine" (PART 1)
T.me/GalliaDailyThis interview is presented in two parts.
INTRODUCTION
These stories may shock, anger or sadden you, but they will not leave you indifferent. These stories are those of eight honourable and patriotic Frenchmen, soldiers, who found themselves faced with a Cornelian choice that called into question their commitment: COVID 19 vaccination. These men and women, created in the mould of duty and obedience, but whose careers have also taught them honour and discernment, now find themselves in an extremely complicated situation. Some are under pressure, some have been dismissed, some are threatened by their leaders, some have to engage in illegal activities in order to continue serving their country.
Indeed, since the summer of 2021, a series of measures by the French government has imposed mandatory vaccination against COVID 19 on a number of professions, including the military. While the COVID vaccination has raised deep debates in civil society, very few people have gone to interview the military to find out how this topic is perceived in the military. Why the silence? That the army does not communicate on this subject is quite normal. But what are the journalists doing? Is the French press afraid of the effect that these testimonies could have on the public? Indeed, the French population could start to ask questions if it appeared that many soldiers, from the private to the general, are very suspicious of COVID vaccination.
Gallia Daily is fortunate to have privileged links with the french military institution, with the soldiers themselves. We are happy today to be able to give the floor to some of them, so that they can testify to what they see, what they experience, what they observe and what they think about all this.
To such remarks, we will answer that, if our army is trembling because a small corporal gives his opinion on a such a basic topic – vaccination – , it is probably that there is a very deep evil which threatens our country, and that there are thus a certain number of problems more urgent than to attack a small independent media like ours.
The French Army has always been great, and lies will not preserve this greatness, they will tarnish it. The tragedy is that today our army is forced into a spiral of concealment to support the government's policy and rhetoric, a government that claims at the top of its voice that vaccination is popular with the masses, and first and foremost with respectable citizens such as the military.
The situation is much more complex and nuanced. The situation is far less peaceful than this orderly and coordinated silence would suggest. Our article is intended to give voice to some of these people. When we began to pull the thread, we received hundreds of returns from military personnel eager to talk about and testify to this subject. More surprisingly, we received hundreds and hundreds of messages from military wives testifying for their husbands. And even messages from children (the youngest is 13 years old!) who want to talk about what is happening to their dads...
We have decided to select eight testimonies, from the simple private to the general, from the commando to the navy man, including the doctor and the military wife. We apologize in advance for having to make this difficult selection, but we hope that our choice will allow us to do justice, on the whole, to all the elements that these testimonies could evoke. Moreover, most of the testimonies we received or the interviews we conducted were very dense. We therefore apologize for having to modify certain passages in the final text, to simplify reading, add context or protect sources. The eight witnesses have obviously reviewed and validated their testimony before final publication.
Chief Warrant Officer Fred, Infantry Regiment
→ Gallia Daily : Chief Warrant Officer, can you introduce yourself?
I am a Chief Warrant Officer in an infantry regiment, in combat company. I joined the Army at the age of 17 and a half and have participated in 11 overseas operations. I was wounded twice. I am married and have three children.
→ Are you politically engaged? Do you identify with the term "Anti-vax"?
I have never been in politics, I don't even vote. I've never understood this eagerness to play a rigged game... By the way, no, I'm not anti-vaccine, throughout my career I must have received a good thirty vaccines to be able to go to the worst corners of the globe. It made sense, and I don't regret it: I've seen a young person in Africa die of malaria in a few hours, or babies have lifelong consequences from dengue fever. Some diseases are worth fighting. And others much less so, like COVID.
→How did this position of doubt, which some would call "conspiracy", begin?
At the beginning of COVID, like most normal people, I activated my reptilian brain and was defensive in the face of a threat – a virus – that was not yet well understood. I think at that moment I would have taken the vaccine without much hesitation. But that moment passed quickly, and I quickly regained my my critical thinking skills.
From the first lockdown I began to understand that there was "something else" behind all this. That it was not only medical, but that there was a political agenda, which was set in motion with the pretext of the health fight ; in the same way that for several years we have seen a very clear political agenda being applied with the fallacious pretext of saving trees or pandas... The French government's response to the crisis therefore aroused my suspicion. This was confirmed when we started to see the first figures coming out on the COVID mortality, which was ridiculously low, or at least not high enough to justify the huge circus into which the world has sunk.
→ So you're not vaccinated?
I am not vaccinated against COVID 19. And there is absolutely no way I would take that vaccine. The government has gone way too far into insanity for me to give them any credit or seriousness when they claim to be looking out for my health. You'll notice that it's funny, the President, the one who sent me abroad to risk my life eleven times, now claims to care about my health. What buffoonery. I would also like to add that I have never needed politicians to take care of me, I am capable of taking care of myself and my family… That used to be called being a man.
→ In practical terms, what consequences does this have in relation to your military service?
In practical terms, I'm no longer in the military. They pushed me out the door. I had the right to endless appointments in front of my commanding officer, in front of generals and the ministry's torchbearers, who came from Paris to explain to me that I am a "bad soldier and a bad example for my men", I quote...
I even had the right to an appointment with a psychologist and a psychiatrist, who were supposed to evaluate my "capacity to serve" or "to detect signs of paranoia or radicalization". I replied, that if I had psychological problems, they should have noticed during my 30 years of service...
The psychiatrist explained to me that I had "the right to be suspicious of doctors" as I had been injured, that I might be suffering from PTSD. I simply told him that the problem was not the doctors, but the fact of injecting a gene therapy into my blood, by force. This idiot dared to answer me "With your age, your physical shape, you are part of the populations at risk", I challenged him to a pull-up contest and a Cooper cardio test, by reminding him that if 11 OPEX had not put me on the ground, it is not a flu that would do it.
In other words, I was not very conciliatory with my bosses' demands. But it must be said that their requests, even if they were formulated with a faked politeness, were in fact tantamount to telling me to "shut your mouth, vaccinate yourself, or else you'll be fired".
A chief warrant officer doesn't shut up, so I was fired, supposedly because my "psychological profile shows inconsistencies". The last stab came from my commanding officer, who took care to spread a rumour that I had basically gone off the rails. To make it look like they had fired me for this psychological reason, when they obviously fired me because of the vaccine, without admitting it, to avoid it looking bad I guess. In any case, they managed to fire me because of the vaccine, even before vaccination was officially mandatory.
→ Within your regiment and your acquaintances, you were the only one in this position?
Not only was I not alone, but there were quite a few of us. Before vaccination was mandatory, I think we were about half skeptical in the regiment, the other half being purely indifferent.
In my company, my CDU (the captain) had the same position as me. He said to me one day:
"Fred, if I ever die and these bastards vaccinate my kids at school, you promise me that you'll pick up an HK at the armoury and you'll fuck the teacher, the doctor, the school principal, the regional governor, the minister of health and the president.»
I promised. He made the same promise to me. It still stands, and I mean that seriously. Parental authority is sacred, if these fools want to play with our children, they will soon realize that not everyone is quick to hand over their offspring to Chronos. I think that's the position of most of the NCOs I can talk to, at least all the ones who have kids. Having children must help you project yourself, and it creates a long-term vision which helps to reflect on the issue of the vaccine.
The fact that I got fired served as an example, I think. Some colleagues then agreed to take the vaccine. Many went on leave and came back to the regiment "vaccinated", with false certificates. But at least four comrades from my company, two privates, a sergeant and a young lieutenant are still on the hot seat for refusing to compromise themselves at all. I don't know yet where they are in their journey. But I have only one piece of advice to give them if they read me: don't submit, you are already dead to them anyway, even if you give in, you won't have a career, you are marked as black sheep for good.
I'm not very good with numbers, but from the contacts I still have within my company, I think there are roughly at least 50% vaccinated, mostly by coercion, not conviction. Then, about 35% of false vaccinated, who found a complacent doctor or who had their military file falsified thanks to relatives. And 15% of dissidents, either really resisting like the four men I just mentioned, or who were at the end of their contract and preferred to leave rather than be vaccinated. From what I hear from my friends, it's pretty much the same everywhere, in all the regiments.
→ And now, for you what is the plan?
I'm leaving in May to settle in Croatia with my family and the family of another colleague, who was also pushed out. For us, France is over. It's heartbreaking. But if this country doesn't want us, even as bulletproof vests, we're not going to impose our presence. Above all, my two youngest children are in junior high school and primary school, and there is no way I'm going to force them to live in a country surrounded by crazies. Croatia is good and if it's not good anymore, we'll go somewhere else. And I tell you: I hope that as many of my colleagues as possible will do the same. Your value as a man and as a Frenchman is not to submit yourself to make a career. Your value is your human and professional qualities, your ability to protect your blood, your family. There are still countries in Europe where you will be respected and welcomed for that.
Major Thierry, CPA 10 / CPA 20
→ Major, can you introduce yourself?
I am Major Thierry, I have been serving in the Air Force since I was 19 years old. I spent most of my career as an air rifleman, then in the CPA 10 and CPA 20 (Air Force Special Forces). I went on about 15 missions. I am married, a father, I have two children and three grandchildren. Incidentally, I also have 3 horses and 3 dogs, who rely on me.
→ Major, can you tell us if you are vaccinated, why, and what effect it has on your military career?
I am vaccinated, I decided to do it after a long reflection. My mother was hospitalized, and the clinic where she was refused me the possibility of visiting her... At first, I managed as best I could thanks to my brother, who is vaccinated, who allowed me to see my mother on video calls. But then I saw my mother's health decline, and the isolation must not have helped. I vaccinated myself to be able to see her because I couldn't bear to see her go without being able to tell her that I loved her. I did the right thing, she died the day after my first visit, I sincerely believe she was waiting to see me. So I vaccinated myself out of sheer compulsion in a way, otherwise I would never have done it. Neither my wife nor my children or grandchildren are vaccinated.
As a non-commissioned officer in the Army, my officers asked me to take into account the vaccination status of my guys. It was supposed to be a formality, circulating a form internally. But after talking to my guys, I was well aware that some of them weren't vaccinated and didn't want to do it. So I went to see all my men face to face, and I discussed the situation with them. Some of them were already vaccinated, most of them by compulsion, to keep their jobs. There was nothing I could do for them.
But there were also some people refusing the vaccine. Roughly 20 out of 80, who were not vaccinated and who did not want to do it at all. I proposed to all of them to get false certificates. Which they all did. Two of them couldn't pay for the fake document, I paid out of my own pocket. There was only one guy, a sergeant, who absolutely refused to get a shot or even use a fake certificate. I warned him of the risks he was taking, he decided to go for it anyway.
I defended him as much as I could. He got the full treatment, Colonels, Generals, long medical check-ups, cannabis tests every two days, visits from the DRSD (the army's counter-intelligence service, which gives Secret-Defense accreditations or checks the radicalisation of soldiers). He took a torrent in his face. They also put unbelievable pressure on his girlfriend, who holds a civilian administrative position for the MoD, explaining that she would lose her job if her boyfriend didn't give in. This obviously broke up their relationship. Surprisingly enough, while on the road, he was stopped by the police 7 times in two months, whereas he had never been stopped in his life. I suspect that they were trying to stick him with a civil procedure to justify his dismissal from the Army. In the end, they integrated his combat group into another section, which went to the other side of France, without him of course. So as to leave him totally isolated, without his comrades...
He did not give in, and I salute his courage. Today, he was transferred to a logistic service, to "fold socks" as they say, a degrading task for a soldier who was trained to be a commando. This is temporary, I think he will be quietly fired in a few weeks or months now that vaccination is officially mandatory...
I made it clear to my officers what I thought of their treatment of this young sergeant. I'm disgusted with the way it's being done. I would have preferred that he be fired directly, rather than have to watch these deals being made to break him. It made me ashamed to have served those colonels and generals. As a leader, I learned to be the shield of my men, not the hammer used to bring them down. Apparently, in France and in the Army, not everyone shares this vision of service...
Almost all military personnel do not want to be vaccinated, that is a fact. Some have done so out of spite, many have made fakes and a few hold the front line symbolically by still refusing. I could not accept to become the watchtower of the government's health policy when all the men who trust me are opposed to this policy, for various reasons. My role as a leader is to represent my men to the officers, not to represent the officers to my men. I defy any leader to go on the frontline and tell me otherwise. For all these reasons, I decided to leave the army and retire, and I made it very clear to my officers that I was doing so in opposition to their management of health policy, which got me into a lot of trouble as well.
It's "easy" for me as an old NCO to have this freedom. But I can assure you that it is still a kind of heartbreak to leave with your head down an institution that you have served fully for 30 years. As a man I can't help but feel that the Institution is betraying what it is; but as a soldier I can't help but feel that I am the one who is betraying... I think this will haunt me for a long time, because in reality there is no right or wrong answer. I'm glad I made that choice, even though it was a difficult one.
And I invite the young NCOs of the three services to listen to what I have to say: you are the shield of your guys, their shepherd, keep that in mind, always. You are responsible for their lives on the front line, but also in peacetime. Always support their choices, even if it is difficult, wearing or destructive for you at times.
→ And now, for you what is the plan?
I am moving to be closer to my two children, who live on the Swiss border. I have offered to help homeschool my two grand-children. It will keep me busy, but I'm looking forward to it. My wife is going to leave her current job and help me with that too. There is a page turning, that is the way it is.
Second Lieutenant Clément: ESM Officer School
→ Lieutenant, can you introduce yourself?
I am Second Lieutenant Clément, of the First Battalion of France of Saint Cyr (French West Point). I joined Saint Cyr after a preparatory course at the Vieux Bahut. I aspired to become an officer since I was a child, my father being a non-commissioned officer and my grandfather having been an officer himself.
→ Can you tell us if you are vaccinated, why, and what effect it has on your young military career?
I'm not vaccinated, like a number of my comrades. We have made fake documents to slip through the cracks before September. Not everyone is so lucky though. Some comrades in ESM2 and ESM3 were caught off guard: theirs chiefs scheduled a collective vaccination session on their return from a demanding commando training, at times when the cadets were too tired to resist.
But I do have a few examples of comrades who bravely resist. They take a lot of pressure from the school's management. The officers have also asked us to put pressure on them from our side... It's ironic that for twenty years the state has been bugging us about traditions and heckling, which is supposedly harassment... But now they're asking us, the alumni, to legally harass our unvaccinated comrades or to put pressure on our classmates.
I think these classmates are obviously going to get expelled or pushed out, their careers are screwed anyway. The management itself makes sure to put the recalcitrant ones against the wall. During an briefing, one of our comrade had the right to a long sermon, about the fact that, refusing the vaccine, he was "worse than a terrorist" or «worse than ISIS fighters of the Sahel ». Our comrade, was clever enough to simply answer that… ISIS could not be in the Sahel desert, since ISIS stands for "Islamic State in Iraq and Sham", so the Middle-East. The remark probably didn't help his case.
But one will notice the perfidy of such a statement: it takes a lot of nerve to dare to tell a young person who has just spent three years in prep school and three years in military school, in the hope of serving his country, that he is no better than the latest rat in the Islamic State. Somehow, the French State makes absolutely no difference between its officers marching on the Champs Élysées on July-14 Parade, and Muslims running over children on July-14. That is good to know...
I also know that vaccination was a problem with several crocos (african officers from african countries coming in France for a few months of training). Some of them also refused to be vaccinated in the first place... They were threatened with being sent home to Africa. Again, note the irony of the situation, politically... A government that refuses to expel foreign criminals and terrorists, threatens to expel highly qualified African officers who refuse to be vaccinated...
Last point: I can't testify to this directly because we don't belong to the same school. But apparently the EMAC officers were the most threatened regarding vaccination. They only do one year at Saint Cyr instead of three. So most of them were not vaccinated, and may have slipped through the cracks a little. But as the government's policy became more pronounced, they were finally forced to vaccinate, which some refused of course… So they are on the hook, and the whole shebang. Many of them used fake certificates, but others were vaccinated en masse directly by the Army Medical Service at school… Except that they had bad timing: there was the inauguration of the EMAC by Army Minister Parly just a few days later. And some cadets had high fevers after the vaccine, several of them fell ill. The EMAC officials told the cadets that if even one of them fell during the ceremony with the Minister, his career would be destroyed. In my opinion they were afraid of bad publicity : having vaccinated officers fall in front of a member of the government. If it's common for soldiers to sometimes fall during ceremonies, I think the idea of having 10 people on the ground at once was a bit scary. Fun fact: it was the same for the July 14th parade, not only did they threaten the non-vaccinated with not being able to participate, but they also kicked out of the parade the vaccinated cadets who had serious side effects and were in danger of fainting in front of everyone
There are probably inaccuracies in my testimony, exaggerated details or others that I have forgotten, it would be worthwhile for you to question other comrades from other classes directly. I don't pretend to speak for others. But this clearly gives you a good overview of the situation at Saint Cyr. It is not a happy place. Between the outcasts, those who are taken by surprise, those who are threatened, those who are harassed or pushed out, those who are reluctantly vaccinated, and those who are using fake certificates, that's a lot of malcontents. I hope our leaders realize this and take this variable seriously.
→ And now then, what do you plan?
After my stint in the DA (last year of school), I'm going to serve a few years to pay back what I owe this country. But then I'm out, permanently. The COVID episode has totally destroyed my last "patriotic" accents. To be patriotic, you need a homeland. I refuse to patronize a state apparatus whose main objective is to sell doses of an American-Israeli vaccine to healthy French people. Fuck them. I say this as the son and grandson of a soldier. I say this as a former Autun cadet, as a Brution and as a Cyrard. I say this as an officer and as a soldier. And I say it as a citizen. Fuck them.
We talk about it a lot between us, I think the predominant feeling is exactly that. I'm fed up. The last 12 months have been like an electroshock for many of us. Those who didn't care about these issues still don't. But those who were on the edge, who had doubts, have now totally crossed the line. The turnover of officers is already high, and I think we're going to see it explode.
I may be projecting a bit, but I don't know how the state can solve this problem. In the hospital sector, I know that they will call upon foreign workers to compensate for the number of non-vaccinated nurses. For the army it's going to be more complicated, but in my opinion we're going to go more and more towards contract workers, including foreigners, without military status, who will serve as mercenaries and/or praetorian guards for the Republic. Nice ! I'm sure that Napoleon, may he rest in peace, would be proud to see the fate that is reserved for his protégés by his descendants...
In any case I have only one thing to say to those who can read us: if you are military, private for example, know that there is a generation of officers who arrives and who is as fed up as you. That's it. If you're civilians, I don't know what to tell you, except that we need you to yell. There's nothing we can do in the army. Right now. So it's up to you to make a move. But do it knowing that you are not alone, there are many policemen, gendarmes, firemen and soldiers, who agree with you, on the essential. Finally, this is the message I want everyone to remember: you are not alone. We are the majority. By a long shot. People who have taken the vaccine out of conviction are a very small minority. Whether we are non-vaccinated, using fake documents or vaccinated by force, we are the mass, we are the majority. Even if we are led to believe otherwise. So I have something to say to the leaders: the word of Cambronne [Shit! / Merde !].
Lieutenant Marc, Commando-Marine
→ Lieutenant, can you introduce yourself for our readers?
My name is Lieutenant Marc and I have spent my entire career in the FUSCO. For the past five years I have been serving with a Marine Commando group (french Navy Seals/SBS/SAS). I am engaged and I have a son. I am also a high level sportsman in civilian life.
→ Can you tell us if you are vaccinated, why, and what effect it has on your military career?
I am not vaccinated, like many of my colleagues. To get under the radar I was able to get help from the wife of a fellow Naval Academy student, who works at the SSA in a military hospital. In other words, I have a fake pass and a fake vaccination certificate.
As an officer, I encouraged all my men to do the same. I even had the unofficial approval of two of my officers to do so. This is of course totally illegal. But on paper, my entire commando is vaccinated. In reality, we have only about 30% of people really vaccinated, at least among the commando-marines. I talk to my comrades in other commando units and the pattern is more or less the same. There are a certain number of people who really get vaccinated, but a large proportion who refuse or who make fake certificates.
I think that overall the fact that we belong to the COS (special forces), allows us to have a little less pressure than other military or other professions. The priority of the command is not to make us run away. To train a young person in a CTLO unit, it takes three years of training and at least two years of deployment to reach a sufficient level of professionalism. This is in addition to his initial training. In a way, the balance of power is in our favour, so they can't afford to fire us, they leave us alone. I even have the example, a few weeks ago, of an officer who was able to be deployed in the Sahel without being vaccinated, which is of course totally forbidden. The chiefs turned a blind eye on his vaccination status, because he had a crucial rôle in the mission and that it would have been complicated to replace him at the last minute.
Unfortunately, I think we're privileged, in a way. Our friends in the Army face a much more aggressive form of repression, that's the feedback we get from our exchanges with them. I have a prep school friend who is serving in a transmission regiment and who was preparing for the École de Guerre. He's on the hot seat now because he clearly refused the vaccination. In this case, they sent him to the DRSD (intelligence service) on spurious grounds of course. I also have a nephew of a neighbour who joined the army a few months ago and is now stuck at the end of his technical training because the HR service of the army refused to validate his technical certificate only because he refused the vaccine.
I think most people in the Navy, if they had a choice, would not have taken the vaccine. It's kind of ironic as a sailor's life is spent in cramped quarters, on ships cut off from everything. One would think that seafarers would be eager to get vaccinated to protect themselves. But the opposite is true.
It must be said that right from the start, we sailors had rather striking proof that COVID was not dangerous. Our comrades on the Charles de Gaulle aicraft carrier were all contaminated from the start of the epidemic. 1500 sailors in a small space with COVID. I think they all caught the COVID. So that gives us a good indicator of how dangerous the virus is: it is not. Out of 1500 sailors, there were 10 cases of people who needed medical attention, which means a medical visit, not even ICU. And I believe there were only two serious cases, both of which involved old officers with comorbidities. Empiricism is therefore formal: for young people who are healthy, athletic, without comorbidity, the risk is almost non-existent. If anything, it is non-existent. Statistical margins will not invalidate this fact.
That's why I refused to get the vaccine: I don't mind taking an old tetanus shot or something like that. But I have a big problem with the idea of forcibly injecting a dose of virus into my body, especially when I have literally no chance of suffering from severe forms. It's totally incoherent. That is what I think and what most of my colleagues, leaders and subordinates think. We're pretty much unanimous on this.
→ And now, what do you plan?
My position is very comfortable. I'm doing what I like, I'm flying under the radar with my fake certificate. I'll try to keep it that way. I'm more useful in this position than unemployed. I'm going to try as much as I can to keep my guys out of trouble. I feel it's my duty. We've got enough to deal with without having to worry about this pseudo-sanitary crap.
It's not a question of fear of the vaccine, or anything. I'm not a doctor, at best I know how to put a three-sided bandage on a guy to keep him alive until the evasan arrives. But I don't know much about epidemiology. It's not about the risks of the vaccine. It's purely a matter of honor. I have sworn obedience to France, for very specific missions. As a matter of principle, I take the right to refuse anything that goes beyond this framework.
This pandemic is above all a media phenomenon. It is a matter of honour for me to refuse. I am a Breton, a sailor and a commando. They teach us to be sharks, they will wait a long time before turning me into a goldfish. I made a man's choice, I assume it completely.
Maybe I'm wrong and I'll regret not taking the vaccine. I take full responsibility for it. I am using my right to live free and therefore to realize that I made the wrong choice. I don't need the state to protect me from myself and my bad decisions. So yes, I refused, as a matter of honour. There is no way I will submit to this ridiculous compulsory vaccination. This whole COVID thing is a test of faith. It is a test to see who submits and who has the strength to resist. Only dogs submit. But it is only the fools who step out of line and raise their arms when volunteers are asked for the firing squad. You have to be smart enough to refuse the collar without alienating your master, not right away anyway. So I refuse while sparing my possibilities, making fake documents, going under the radar.
If the situation doesn't get worse, I think we can keep it that way. But if the navy is tightening the screws or the government is tightening the screws, we'll have to see what happens. I'm not sure how far they're prepared to go, so I don't know how far we're prepared to go either. We will see. But there are certain red lines that we can't cross, and I think they know exactly what they are, I hope. Otherwise the outcome of this is going to be sadly complicated for everyone. Believe me, they don't want to have even 40 former commandos out of work and angry. In fact, even one would be a lot, it would already be dangerous. They know that.
The government must realize that even if the military is dumb, it is not blind. We have eyes to see the news, including that of the independent media, not always very serious but often very useful. We have families, brothers and sisters who work in the civilian sector. Among the nurses that you put out of work or that you drown in tear gas on Saturdays, there are military wives, gendarmes' wives, policemen's wives... We have children and even grandchildren, so when you allow yourselves to use our children as guinea pigs, remember that there are children of military personnel in the batch. That is to say, the children of men whose job is essentially to symbolically and physically put their lives on the line to protect the future of France's children.
We keep quiet, because that's our job. But we make up our minds in silence, remember that. With your policy, you are alienating part of the army, part of the military, of all ranks. But above all, and this is the most important, you are alienating the French population, vaccinated or not. Remember that the non-vaccinated are non-vaccinated by conviction, but that very few of the vaccinated have done so by conviction. They will not take to the streets to defend the Vaccine Republic. The vast majority of vaccinated people, including those in the army, did it to have peace. If you don't give them the peace they finally deserve, you will soon find yourself with a huge block of 20% of citizens, across all classes and professions, who have no desire to back down. A cornered group that will not stop growing. I am very apprehensive about what can come out of such a fracture. I think our leaders are too, at least I hope so. Because if they choose to go down this road, the outcome will be explosive, I can assure you.
Colonel Antoine: commander of a cavalery regiment
→ Colonel, can you introduce yourself?
My name is Colonel Antoine, I am the commander of a cavalry regiment. On a daily basis, I lead nearly 800 men and women who have chosen the path of arms. In my private life, I am married and have five children.
→ Colonel, are you vaccinated? Why? What effect does that have on your career?
It was a very difficult decision for me. I have a natural distrust of vaccines for a long time. My younger brother has multiple sclerosis. According to the doctors, this is most likely due to the fact that our mother was vaccinated against hepatitis during her pregnancy. I saw my brothers’s health deteriorating at a terrifying rate. As the military made me a stronger, more robust man, I watched my brother be destroyed by disease. All because of a vaccine. I might as well tell you that I never liked vaccines, and throughout my military career I tried to "dodge" vaccination sessions. My general practitioner helped me a lot each time.
So in theory I shouldn't have had the COVID vaccine. Not this one or any other. But I found myself faced with a terrible case of conscience. I understood quite quickly that the vaccine was going to be mandatory for the military, the information was circulating before the official announcement. We discussed this subject at length with several members of my regiment's BOI [high command of a regiment]. It became quite clear to me that we were going to be faced with several types of profiles: voluntarily vaccinated soldiers, soldiers vaccinated out of spite, falsely vaccinated soldiers and unvaccinated soldiers ready to resist. Four categories of soldiers, which is already an aberration when our whole mission is to create efficiency by creating symbiosis, i.e. cohesion.
As a leader, I was very reluctant to resign, to write to the press, to write to my leaders, or to enter into a power struggle. So I didn't do it. I decided to stay at my post and use all the power I had to give my men as much choice as possible, dragging out the Army Health Service and the Army HR Service requests as much as possible, letting the right tricks circulate to get fake vaccination certificates…
But I quickly realized one thing. Despite this, there would be soldiers who could not fly under the radar, or simply refused to comply with the imperative and refused even the idea of having a fake vaccination certificate. There were a few cases. I can think of one corporal who desperately refused to be vaccinated, but he also refused to get a fake certificate, because he refused to get a pass, because he wanted to show solidarity with those who could not get a forgery. I met with him five times in my office to try to convince him. He explained to me that he was afraid of losing his job and being fired because he had a four-year-old daughter, a loan, and aging parents. I explained to him that this was all the more reason for him to keep a low profile and accept the idea of having a fake certificate to stay in the military.
This corporal said he couldn't bring himself to do it. You know what he said to me? He said, "I can't stand the idea that I have to submit and lose my soul to be able to raise my daughter normally. I would rather my daughter grow up without a father, than grow up proud of a father she can only look up to because he's laid down and crawled as a slave".
I realized that day that it would be easier for me to send that corporal to Verdun or Uzbin ten times than to get him to renounce his principles. I realized that I would have to fire him. Or rather, that through me, the Army high command was going to fire him.
This situation made me think a lot about my role as a leader and my values as a man. I spent many sleepless nights preoccupied with these questions: What kind of man am I if, comfortably hidden behind the concessions I make, I allow myself to judge the future of those who refuse these same concessions?
I decided to get the vaccine. I really did. I didn't have to, because I already had a valid certificate, a fake one, but I decided to get vaccinated anyway. Out of respect for the men in my care. Those who feel compelled to get vaccinated to keep the job that feeds their families. Those who use fake certificate while being aware that they have already half submitted. And for all those who, like the corporal, will lose their jobs because they refuse to compromise at all.
It may be the biggest mistake I've ever made in my life. But paradoxically I feel at peace with my conscience. I had the power to refuse to compromise and to "go between the drops". But not everyone has that power. Morally as a leader, I could not bear the idea of leading men without being in the same regime as them. Now I am in their position. We share the same thing. They won't know and they don't care. And I don't care. But I did what I thought was right and what my ethics and honour demanded of me. My second-in-command made the exact same choice and went with me down that road, deciding to actually get vaccinated, so that he could be in the same boat as our men who can't refuse.
These are heartbreaking choices. I'm not saying there's a right and wrong choice. We all have different situations. Some can get into the power struggle, others have less room to manoeuvre and prefer to fly under the radar. Some could go under the radar, but their moral sense is such that they would rather lose everything than give up a millimeter to their enemy... In this story, there are not several sides in reality, there is only one: the population that is forced to endure against the government. I have a deep contempt for the political apparatus that has created this whole situation, for all the anger and despair it causes
Lieutenant-Colonel Gabrielle: SSA doctor
→ Colonel, can you introduce yourself?
My name is Lieutenant-Colonel Gabrielle, and I'm a medical officer with the Army Health Service (SSA). I have served in the field and in a military hospital. I'm married and the mother of three children.
→ Colonel, are you vaccinated? Why? What effect does this have on your career?
I am not vaccinated, I would never get the COVID 19 vaccine. I made sure to get a false certificate, as did a few of my colleagues. I believe deeply in my role as a doctor, which is to treat and save lives. The vaccination policy around COVID is certainly not part of that. I refuse to inject soldiers with a substance that is supposed to protect them from a disease that cannot kill them anyway. I refuse to inject them with a vaccine that will not prevent them from carrying or transmitting the disease anyway.
I am also quite sceptical about this vaccine, which is so effective and so consensual that it is necessary to use coercion to get people to accept it. A vaccine against a virus which, let's remember, is so aggressive that people are obliged to undergo several tests to find out if they are ill... The government's health policy really makes no sense, at least not from a health perspective. Not from a medical point of view. I'm one of those doctors who believe that, empirically, you have to find a cure for a disease, not a vaccine. There is no point in treating people who cannot develop serious forms anyway. On the other hand, it is very useful to develop drugs that can mitigate these severe forms IF they occur. That's the question I'm asking today: we've been dealing with this health crisis for almost two years now, so what's the status of potential cures for the virus and its symptoms? Have we even tried to find any? Or have we not?
I am also one of those doctors who consider that massively and indiscriminately vaccinating DURING the epidemic growth phase is a very bad idea, because it is the best way to let what are called escape variants appear. This is well documented in the specialized press, but to put it very simply: the vaccine makes it possible to standardize the "market", which greatly simplifies the task of the virus, which no longer has to adapt to each individual but instead finds a common point of attachment in everyone, via the vaccine. After that, the virus only has to mutate once, allowing it to outperform the vaccine. And from a harmless virus, we end up with an extremely aggressive virus.
In short, even without being a doctor, there are many points that raise serious questions in the management of this health crisis. And I think they deserve to be discussed in a democratic way. The fact that the government is using coercion proves to me that COVID is no longer a medical issue, it has become a political issue, and only a political one. And the military should not pay the price for this crazy policy. It would never occur to anyone to make the flu shot mandatory. That's exactly what we're doing.
These are the reasons why I refused vaccination. And these are the reasons why I decided, since last June, with the help of a captain and several nurses, not to vaccinate in the army. Or rather, to vaccinate those who really want it, but to allow those who don't want it to get a fake certificate.
What I'm doing is totally illegal, I know there's a risk, and I know that we'll probably end up being discovered or reported. That will happen. But I will leave the army with at least a clear conscience. I believe that I am protecting the health of the troops more by not vaccinating them than by vaccinating them.
I am certainly a doctor and a soldier. But I am and remain above all a woman and a mother. I know the price of life, what it costs, what it is worth, what it involves. I know the beauty of life, the beauty you can see in the eyes of a laughing child. But I also know the fragility of life, the fragility that can be seen in the eyes of a patient who is about to go on his last ride. My role is to defend life.
My colleagues in the regiment are defending life by risking their own. I cannot bring myself to disregard those sacrifices they make by putting their lives on the line just because I am following government orders. So the only thing I do is give everyone back the choice that the government has taken away from them. I give them back control of their destiny and let them choose. I let my nursess do the same and I protect them as much as I can in their task.
And you know what? When people have a choice, they usually all decide not to get vaccinated. And believe me, that's exactly why the vaccine is mandatory for the military and about to be mandatory for civilians: because otherwise, nobody would want to get vaccinated. Because basically, with a few exceptions, everyone knows very well that this situation around COVID is not medical, but political. People have common sense, that's why the government needs coercion. And it is to honour people's common sense and the value of their lives that I refuse to be an agent of that coercion. And I will do so until the police come for me by force.
You can read the second part here.
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