Editor's Note: The Sentinel has released the first installment of SEALs Beat Biden, a documentary series that tells the story of the Navy SEALs and other service members who resisted the Biden military vaccine mandate. Watch the series for free here.
Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro told lawmakers that he has “no regrets” surrounding the dismissal of service members who refused to take COVID vaccines.
Del Toro, an appointee of President Joe Biden, was pressed during a heated exchange with Missouri Republican Senator Eric Schmitt as to whether he has properly represented service members who declined the vaccine even as the Pentagon emphasizes diversity efforts. Schmitt asked whether Del Toro also sees himself as an “ally” to the dismissed service members.
“Sir, I followed the laws, they disobeyed the law,” the official responded. When asked by Schmitt whether he regrets the dismissals, Del Toro said he has “no regrets whatsoever.”
Schmitt linked the dismissals to broader recruitment shortfalls in the military over the past several years, a trend he said was driven by both COVID mandates and diversity initiatives. “You are firing qualified people who are well-trained, and you sit here so smugly to act like none of that has any impact on the readiness of our Navy,” Schmitt contended.
Del Toro retorted that only two of the unvaccinated service members they contacted to invite back into the military eventually decided to rejoin. “Shocker. Shocker,” Schmitt replied, observing the “level of disrespect they received from their government.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin mandated that all service members under Pentagon authority receive COVID vaccinations, an order which was reversed only after thousands were forced out of their positions and denied their constitutional right to apply for religious accommodations.
Asa Miller, a former Navy SEAL operator who was dismissed because of his vaccination status, said in comments to The Sentinel that Del Toro has failed to foster a truly inclusive Navy.
“Teams are built on cohesion and trust. To build that, you must have individuals who have been through the same training and are held to the same standards. If a team member cannot ‘cut it’ due to physical deficiency, mental ineptitude, or medical issues, you must maintain the standard at the price of their feelings,” he asserted. “This administration's obsession with ‘inclusion’ and ‘diversity’ has wrecked unit cohesion, lethality, and competence. Destroyed test gates and performance standards and their immediate effects are apparent: death and destruction overseas, and collapsing morale and recruitment here at home.”
Americans have indeed lost trust in the military in recent years amid a perceived spread of progressive ideology among senior leaders, often manifesting in forced diversity efforts.
Miller added to The Sentinel that Del Toro was “gaslighting by accusing patriots of breaking the law” when the official and most Admirals threw the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Constitution “out the window” by establishing an unlawful forced vaccination system.
“My brothers and I in the SEAL teams broke zero laws. We abided by the letter of the law and followed the Constitution,” he said. “It was Biden whose politicized bureaucrats in the Pentagon and his yes-men flag officers destroyed law and order by illegally and coercively mandating the entire United States military and the public into medical experimentation.”
The remarks from Del Toro came as The Sentinel exclusively revealed that senior Navy authorities misled the public over the death of Kyle Mullen, a SEAL candidate who passed away immediately after Hell Week. There existed evidence for his use of performance enhancing drugs, yet the Navy said in a press release that “performance enhancing drugs were not a contributing cause.” The Sentinel obtained documents showing the statement was included in the press release at the request of his mother despite considerable evidence to the contrary. Del Toro was one of several dozen Navy officials who received that email.
