Kegsbreath: We are discarding the mandatory flu vaccine requirement, effective immediately.

[demmiblue]

Yeah that will solve all of our problems…..

— Shipwreck (@shipwreck75.bsky.social) 2026-04-21T14:15:47.510Z

Good lawd, these people are fucking idiots!

[mymomwasright]

1. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! The stupid!!!!

[spanone]

2. A fucking moron.

[ananda]

3. I guess that's why they want a mandatory draft.

I mean, who would want to intentionally join
a service that doesn't feed them or take care
of their health?

[DBoon]

4. During the US Civil War, communicable dieseases diasbled and killed soldiers

affecting the fighting ability of armies

At the beginning of the Civil War thousands of soldiers gathered in camps young and old, urban and rural. While soldiers from cities were not as strong as those who grew up working on a farm, they lived in densely populated areas and had a stronger immune system due to exposure of different diseases. Many soldiers from rural communities lacked this exposure to various illnesses such as smallpox and measles, causing a high rate of infection.

There were several epidemics (defined as a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time) that spread throughout the armies during the Civil War. Many history enthusiasts may have heard of the smallpox epidemics that took place during the American Revolution. These epidemics were so deadly, killing 3 out of 10 Continental soldiers, that Washington ordered all troops inoculated in 1777. The process of inoculation involved taking a scab that had fallen off a smallpox patient and rubbing it into a cut on a healthy patient’s arm. The patient would get sick, but not as sick as contracting the virus naturally and one they recovered they would to be immune to the disease. By the 19th century, smallpox vaccination was discovered by giving patients cowpox, a similar virus found in animals that gave immunity to smallpox. This reduced the amount of smallpox cases. From May 1861 to June 1866, there were only 12,236 recorded cases of smallpox in the U.S. Army which numbered millions.

Much more prevalent during the Civil War was measles, which was often ignored since it was considered a childhood disease. The symptoms of measles are like smallpox. Victims had a fever, cough, runny nose, and eventually a rash of red spots that could cover the entire body. With camps teaming with people never exposed to measles, many soldiers were highly susceptible to the disease. By the end of the Civil War, 67,000 Union soldiers contracted measles and more than 4,000 died.

(my bolding)

https://emergingcivilwar.com/2022/10/07/civil-war-medicine-common-diseases-of-the-civil-war/

Why does Hegeseth want to destroy our military?

[eppur_se_muova]

12. Nothing compared to what the flu did in WWI.

https://archive.cdc.gov/www_cdc_gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoration/1918-pandemic-history.htm

NOTE: This page is archived for historical purposes and is no longer being updated.

[Chemical Bill]

66. In my family, a great aunt...

joined the army as a nurse in WWI. She died of the flu before going overseas. We put a flag on her grave on Memorial Day.

I bet a lot of families can trace back to someone who died of the flu, if they care to look.

[malaise]

55. The billionaires decide who live and die

Peons don’t count.
- we are expected to fight for their interests.

[Botany]

5. Pete Hog's Breath, "We are no longer going to believe in science."

Btw the 1st American Commander who ordered all of his troops to be vaccinated was George
Washington in the Revolutionary War.

“In the annals of the American Revolutionary War, we often focus on the military tactics, political maneuvering, and battlefield heroics that secured independence. However, one of General George Washington’s most consequential decisions had nothing to do with troop formations or artillery placement. Instead, it involved a bold medical intervention that may have saved the revolution. In February 1777, Washington ordered the mandatory inoculation of Continental Army troops against smallpox, implementing what historians consider the first mass immunization policy in American history. This decisive action against an invisible enemy, a testament to Washington’s strategic foresight, demonstrated his leadership as a military leader and public health advocate.“

https://historyofvaccines.org/blog/washingtons-war-against-smallpox-revolutionary-inoculation-campaign/

[AZ8theist]

26. What's next? A return of calvary horses and cannon balls?

[Justice matters.]

44. "We will only use the science of making Tomahawks to kill schoolgirls in their schools"

That will "Liberate" them from their tyrannic regime...

[RedWhiteBlueIsRacist]

6. Ooooh, that'll show 'em won't it tough guy!

WTF

[Kid Berwyn]

7. That way, when everyone gets sick, we won't have the manpower we need.

So we can draft your ass and send you to die in the Middle East like Franklin Graham foretold when asking for money on television.

[Spazito]

8. Geez!

[Renew Deal]

9. He must be a big WW1 fan

I don’t care if people want to vaccinate themselves for flu, but for the military, it seems like a bad decision to expose people in such important roles to contagious illnesses like the flu.

[malaise]

58. You think he knows one effin thing about WW1?

Asking for young men and women

[maveric]

10. Why?

Did he give a good reason?

[purr-rat beauty]

11. At what point...

...do we accept, address, and take action on these asses for sabotage?

[Norbert]

13. I would urge members of the military to resign.

This directive is just too fucking dangerous.

[InstantGratification]

21. That is only an option for officers

The enlisted sign a contract for terms of 2 to 6 years. They can apply to be released early but those applications would mostly be denied.

[Hey Joe]

14. Ah yes,

The FREEDOM to die from easily preventable,
common illnesses so you can display your small dick stupidity to the entire world.
We get it Petey
The stupid!…….
It burns!!!………

[Initech]

17. I am legitimately convinced Fox News hates their customers.

If you add up all the numbers of people who have died since 9/11 - all were the direct cause of Fox somehow:

- 9/11 - 4,000
- Hurricane Katrina - 4,000
- War on Terror - 6,000+
- COVID - 1,000,000+
- Mass shootings - 200,000+

So yeah most of this shit has been them.

[Celerity]

43. Your 200,000+ dead figure since 9/11 (so 25 years) in the US from mass shootings is vastly overstated.

Since 1966 (so 60 years versus your 25 year window) there have been 1,728 total fatalities in the US due to mass shootings.

Even allowing for all 60 years to be counted, your claim of 200,000+ mass shooting US deaths is at least 116 times too high.

[Initech]

60. Really? Why does it seem like it's much higher?

[Celerity]

63. the sheer horror of a mass shooting and the way the press goes full 'if it bleeds it leads' mode, perhaps

[Hey Joe]

45. Yes, seems they are gleefully killing off their own

ignorant viewers for the cause of spreading more lies and misinformation.
On a certain level, I’m fine with that if they want to believe known lies. But it’s still abhorrent.
FOX NEWS: We lie, you die

[BradBo]

15. Oh, this will end badly.

[Initech]

16. Can we just discard the useless drunk psycho who is abusing his power?

[AverageOldGuy]

19. And don't forget . . .

. . . this is the same fool who recently dropped the prohibition on carrying weapons on military bases.

[perdita9]

20. I had flu at age 22

It is hard to describe how sick I got: high fevers, intense muscle aches, extreme fatigue. Flu is a killer. I'm lucky I was young and healthy at the time. I don't think I'd survive an infection like that now.

Imagine half a unit out of commission with symptoms like the ones I had.

Hegseth is an idiot.

[tonkatoy8888]

57. The flu is a bitch

One of my personal pet peeves is when someone says, "I had the flu", when they had a bad cold of some other respiratory infection.

I too had the flu when i was in my mid 20's. I have never been sicker in my life. I honestly thought I might die.
And as a healthy, active person in my 20's it took me almost 3 months before I didn't feel like going back to bed after the strenuous act of walking to the kitchen to get a drink of water.

So now we're going to have large groups of people living in close quarters who aren't vaccinated. What could possibly go wrong?

"Sorry, we have to postpone today's war. Everyone is sick."

Everyone, and I mean everyone in this administration is not just ignorant, they are stupid.

[llmart]

22. First the draft, then taking unvaccinated personnel.

Are recruitment numbers that low that he's trying everything to get people to sign up for his and his cult leader's Middle East follies?

[MiHale]

23. This is too stupid to even comment on...what can you say?

[dickthegrouch]

24. Roman legions didn't have vaccines!

That must be as far as hegsbreath got in history class, and he hasn't forgotten it!

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

47. Roman legions didn't have whiskey, either.

Kegsbreath would not have survived.

Yes, they had wine and beer, but it's just not the same.

[bluestarone]

25. If we knew the real truth about these SCUMBAGS

We would know they ALL get the vaccines every year!

[ChicagoTeamster]

27. Do they think it's just political? People living and working in close quarters, especially on ships don't get sick?

That's why vaccines were developed and the military was where diseases like the flu, smallpox, measles, spread and wiped out armies. More troops used to die from disease than from combat wounds. That's why vaccines were mandated. How are we going to launch a ground invasion and maintain a war front if half the troops are sick?

[Ocelot II]

28. The Spanish Flu of 1918 started with US army troops.

One of the first recorded cases was on March 11, 1918, at Fort Riley in Kansas. Overcrowding and unsanitary conditions created a fertile breeding ground for the virus. Within one week, 522 men had been admitted to the camp hospital suffering from the same severe influenza. Soon after, the army reported similar outbreaks in Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama and California. Navy ships docked at East Coast ports also reported outbreaks of severe influenza and pneumonia among their crews. The flu seemed to target military personnel and not civilians, so the virus was largely overshadowed by hotter current affairs such as Prohibition, the suffragette movement and the bloody battles in Europe.

By May 1918, influenza began to subside in the United States. But the ordeal was by no means over. Soldiers at Fort Riley, now ready for battle, incubated the virus during their long, cramped voyage to France. Once they hit French shores, the virus exploded, striking the Allied forces and Central Powers with equal force....

From the battlefields of Europe, the epidemic quickly evolved into a pandemic, as the disease spread north to Norway, east to China, southeast to India and as far south as New Zealand. Even islands weren't safe. Hitching rides on naval ships and carriers, merchant vessels and trains, the virus traveled to the four corners of the earth. By the summer of 1918, it had hit Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, the Philippines and Hawaii. The epidemic wreaked havoc on Puerto Rico but surprisingly barely touched the Panama Canal Zone, the crossroads of the world at the time. The steamship Harold Walker is blamed for bringing Spanish flu to Tampico, Mexico. Within four short months, the virus had rounded the globe and returned once more to U.S. shores.

The second and third waves of Spanish flu slammed the United States in the cold-weather months of 1918. This time civilians were not immune. The country's indigenous people, particularly Native Alaskans, suffered disproportionately. The flu completely wiped out some villages in Alaska, and others lost most of their adult population. Big-city dwellers faired poorly too. New York City buried 33,000 victims. Philadelphia lost nearly 13,000 people in a matter of weeks. Overwhelmed with bodies, many cities soon ran out of coffins and some had to convert streetcars into hearses to keep up with demand.

https://www.paho.org/en/who-we-are/history-paho/purple-death-great-flu-1918

Now we have vaccines to prevent this sort of thing from happening. But we also have Pete Hegseth and RFK Jr., so..

[Deuxcents]

54. They called it the Spanish Flu but it started in Kansas. Influenza A is brutal, even when vaccinated. I can attest

[Ocelot II]

65. I got Influenza A in 1968 in the Hong Kong flu pandemic.

Thought I'd have to get better in order to die. It was just awful, would probably kill me now.

[Deuxcents]

67. I got it in 2018..was never so sick in my life..2 trips to urgent care, hospital and never heard of it before

Flu shots every year but “flu” is overused and yeah, it’s worse than the cold but Influenza is a whole different beast. After I was diagnosed, I read up on it and learned about the A strain and what happened at the military base in Kansas. I know now how deadly it can be and it scares me when people refuse to be vaccinated and I sure don’t want them anywhere near me and like you, I don’t think I would survive it now with all the mutations. Be well 🌺

[Norbert]

62. My dad's cousin died from Spanish Flu in 1918

While he was in basic.

[doubleplusgood]

64. My maternal grandmother died of the flu

Exactly one week after everyone got together for Thanksgiving in 1928, she died at the young age of 45 from an "echo" of the Spanish flu, the worst outbreak in the U.S. since 1918.

[kimbutgar]

29. Gee what could go wrong with a bunch of people stuffed in tight quarters on a ship?

or in large crowds?

[Tbear]

30. On any Navy ship you live and work in extremely close quarters.

It only takes one sick person to put 6000 at risk on a carrier. Bad news.
I am sure it would be the same for our soldiers, marines, and coasties.
Not so sure how it would effect those in “the good life”, the Air Force…

[Captain Zero]

31. Hegsbreath is risking MILITARY READINESS for a culture war stance.

it's pretty tough to go out and conduct military operations when you are PUKING YOUR GUTS OUT.
He should ask Ka$h about that.

[Redleg]

59. Exactly. Military readiness is at stake.

A real culture warrior dumbass.

[Solly Mack]

32. Well, that's stupid.

I apologize for stating the obvious.

[Ilsa]

33. I'm glad I no longer live near a base.

These people will "tough it out" and spread it everywhere.

Bear in mind 1) even those of us who get a flu vax every year can get a minor case of the flu.

Bear in mind 2) with so many cuts to CDC and NIH, etc, we don't know if the next vaccine will be well-targeted to begin with.

[Blues Heron]

34. Putin approves!

[Renew Deal]

53. Exactly

Vaccines in this case is to keep troops healthy and in action. It’s a national security mistake to not require vaccines for common communicable illnesses.

[0rganism]

35. This should turn out well

Time for our "greatest military of all time ever" to get some nasty avoidable debilitating illnesses, I guess. Toughen 'em right up, eh commander?

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

36. "The war department".. blood thirsty fool

[BidenRocks]

37. The next bio weapon will be the flu?

The military has too many personnel in tight quarters. The risk of transmission is unacceptable.
This is dereliction and abuse of our military.
Some whine so he caves. What a spineless slug!

[Wounded Bear]

46. Well, Stephen King used it in The Stand...

Captain Trips, the super flu.

[Rebl2]

38. I see

Lots of sick soldiers in the future as well as some dying from the flu.

[RB77]

39. I have not had a flu vaccine!!

And I woke up today with a nasty case of the flu. This sucks!! 🤢

[dalton99a]

40. God's Warfighters Are Bigger Than Viruses And Can Kill Them With Their Bare Hands

And Then Pick Their Noses

[LymphocyteLover]

42. Yarghghhh!!!!

[LymphocyteLover]

41. this moron has to go

[LiberalArkie]

48. Seems to be following the game plan of Nikita Khrushchev.

[marble falls]

49. I'm guessing he knows shitnothing about the flu epidemic of 1918 that killed more US soldiers than combat did. ...

... The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the misleading name Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest probable cases were documented in March 1918 in Haskell County, Kansas, United States, with further cases recorded in France, Germany and the United Kingdom in April. Two years later, nearly a third of the global population, or an estimated 500 million people, had been infected. Estimates of deaths range from 17 million to 50 million,[7][8] and possibly as high as 100 million,[9] making it one of the deadliest pandemics in history.



Soldiers sick with Spanish flu at a hospital ward at Camp Funston in Fort Riley, Kansas

[QueerDuck]

50. 🙄... 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣🤣

[rurallib]

51. What more could our enemies ask for?

Putin says thanks!

Hell, Iran says thanks!

[Kingofalldems]

52. When I was in AIT at Ft. Dix the flu spread like wildfire in the barracks.

Went to the hospital for one week.

What a dumbass thing for Hegseth to do.

[ColoringFool]

56. Ah, yes. The kind of "freedom" that homeless people have to also starve.

[Vinca]

61. Because nothing says troop unity like a barracks filled with sick soldiers.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

68. MaddowBlog-Hegseth takes another step backward, scraps Pentagon policy on flu vaccines

For nearly 250 years, U.S. military leaders have prioritized inoculating the troops. It’s a lesson the current defense secretary hasn’t learned.

During the Revolutionary War, smallpox took such a brutal toll that George Washington decided to inoculate the troops in 1777, ensuring the survival of the United States.

This came to mind watching Hegseth scrap the Pentagon’s policy on flu vaccines for no reason.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-04-21T18:43:19.505Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/hegseth-takes-another-step-backward-scraps-pentagon-policy-on-flu-vaccines

For all of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s professed interest in “lethality” and warfighting, the former Fox News host has invested an unsettling amount of time and energy into assorted cultural crusades....

Though it might be tempting to think Hegseth would steer clear of the culture war for a while, especially since he’s leading the Pentagon during an actual war, the beleaguered secretary apparently can’t help himself. Politico reported:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday announced an end to the mandatory flu vaccine for all service members, citing a need to restore ‘medical autonomy.’

In a memo issued by Hegseth, the Defense Department said effective immediately, the annual influenza vaccine is voluntary for all active-duty and reserve troops, including civilian personnel in the department. Service members may still choose to receive the vaccine, but it is no longer a condition of service, marking a sweeping reversal of a longstanding health policy.

The secretary probably wouldn’t find the historical details interesting, but let’s take a stroll down memory lane anyway.

During the Revolutionary War, smallpox took such a brutal toll on the American military that George Washington believed he had no choice but to “inoculate all the troops.” The general did exactly that in 1777, and as historian Craig Bruce Smith explained in a memorable piece for Time magazine in 2021, Washington’s decision helped save the lives of countless patriots and “undoubtedly helped ensure the survival of the United States.”

In the generations that followed, the American military has looked out for its troops in the same way Washington did. And in contemporary times, service members have long been required to get plenty of shots as part of their service, including protections against ailments such as diphtheria and measles.....

As The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer noted, “Nothing has killed more soldiers in the history of humanity than disease.” American leaders have wisely taken steps for generations to try to prevent this from happening.

Hegseth, on the heels of a flu season that generated 340,000 hospitalizations and 21,000 deaths in the U.S., is nevertheless deliberately moving the armed forces backward, to the benefit of no one.

[struggle4progress]

69. "Let's return to the manly days when most soldiers died of disease!"

[BidenRocks]

70. This policy gives aid and comfort to our enemies.

It weakens our forces.

[Efilroft Sul]

71. There's only one kind of shot Pete Hegseth likes, and it's 80 proof minimum.

[Baitball Blogger]

72. Said the man whose religion is comfortable with the End Times.

You know, this is exactly what the separation of church and state was all about.

[moondust]

73. Super stupid.

Too much whiskey caused brain damage?

Prosecute him for stupidly endangering the troops.