GoW Ep#3 - Colonel (Retired) Tom "Buzz" Rempfer

In Ep#3, which serves as Part 2 of the "Then and Now" series, Brad and Dave invited guest Colonel Tom "Buzz" Rempfer (Ret.), a former U.S. Air Force officer, onto the show to discuss his personal experiences in refusing to take the anthrax vaccine early in his career. Buzz draws clear parallels between the debacle surrounding the anthrax vaccine and the more recent situation involving thousands of service members who refused the covid-19 vaccine. In this episode, Buzz helps explain the thought process that led him and others to refuse the anthrax vaccine and the aftermath of their decision. He specifically mentions how literature such as Samuel P. Huntington's The Soldier and the State informed his views towards the relationship between service members and the country they serve. Buzz also makes specific reference to the duty service members have to disobey unlawful orders. Buzz also explains laws broken by the government during the anthrax situation and offers some of the details surrounding the congressional hearings held over the case. This episode provides a lot of helpful context in understanding how the situation around the anthrax vaccine helped set the stage for the way that DoD and other government agencies would skirt the law to force the covid-19 shots onto service members.

Please visit Col Buzz Rempfer's website to learn more about the experiences can be found here: https://hoping4justice.org/. This website is a valuable resource not only in describing the experiences of officers such as Buzz and Lt. Col Russ Dingle (U.S. Air Force, Ret.), but also in providing documentation or other resources in assisting the records correction process and the use of documents such as DD149 to do so.

At various times in the podcast when discussing certain laws, 10 USC § 1107 was mentioned. This can be found here: https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=federal+food+drug+cosmetic+21+usc+chapter+1&f=treesort&num=332

If you have not done so, go check out Ep#2, which was Part 1 of our "Then and Now" series featuring Dr. Meryl Nass!

*Note from Dave: I mentioned that Congress was required to get vaccinated, however that's technically not accurate and is worth the clarification. Congress never had an official mandate. It's important for the viewership to know that if and when inaccuracies are presented, we will always strive to correct them. What was in effect at the time were various telework policies which excluded unvaccinated from entering federal buildings. The policies can be found here: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/future-of-the-workforce/post-hybrid-work-environment-guidance/.