Be All That You Can Be Essay, Research Paper

Be All That You Can Be

Be all that you can be in the Army. Earn up to $40,000 for college, get valuable training, and have your health at risk for the rest of your life, and don’t forget the 30 days paid vacation. I know you all have heard that slogan before, or maybe you should have. That is what the Army should tell you on all of those commercials since they made it mandatory for every soldier to be vaccinated against the deadly illness, anthrax. But, if you refuse the vaccination then you are out of not only a job but also you could serve jail time. Soldiers should not be put in a position where they have to choose between risking their health or losing their job.

There are many problems with the vaccine itself. The vaccine has never undergone long term test, so even the Department of Defense has no idea what this could possibly do to soldiers down the road of life. That right there tells you that the Generals in the Pentagon don’t care about your life at all. I wonder if our friends, the leaders of our armed forces were also forced to take this vaccine.

When the vaccine first became mandatory for all personnel, I was stationed in Korea. Due to the fact that we were overseas, we had the opportunity to be the first troops to receive it. I however was exempt from taking the vaccine because I was leaving the country in the next two months and time wouldn’t allow me to receive the shots in proper order. What I witnessed my colleagues go through was enough for me to swear never to except the shots. I saw a large group of people break out in hives and actually had the opportunity to watch one soldier have a seizure. Now, the Army won’t say whether or not the seizure had anything to do with the shots but I was fairly certain.

The Anthrax vaccine was administered during the Gulf War to soldiers that went over to the Middle East to fight. Now there is an undiagnosed disease called the Gulf War disease. Many soldiers have thought to be exposed to a plethora of chemical weapons during the War. Yet only one of them has been confirmed, that being the anthrax injections they received before going over there. The anthrax vaccination could be a contributing factor to the Gulf War disease that so many soldiers still suffer from.

When the Department of Defense came up with the total military inoculation policy it was all over the news including CNN, because it was so controversial. This is very idiotic if you ask me. Don’t you think that Sadaam Hussien and all of the other small threats to the United States watch CNN? Those small countries can afford many different kinds and large quantities of chemical weapons due to their low cost. They are no longer going to even bother launching an anthrax missile at our troops because they know they have a chance at surviving. They will just shoot some other disease filled rocket that they are certain we cannot defend against.

When one joins the military there are a number of reasons that could be possible. There is education benefits, training, money, family traditions, and first and foremost, to serve their country. I don’t think that anyone would join the military so they could endanger their own health. Sure there is always that knowledge that some day you may be called upon to go to combat, but injuring your health during peacetime is not heroic.

If you die while in combat you will most likely be decorated with all kinds of metals and awards for bravery. The only thing that you will get for becoming unhealthy during peacetime is a look at the inside of a VA hospital and poor treatment. You will probably hear every excuse in the world why you are sick all the time, but you will never hear once that it is linked to the shots you were forced to take while you were in the military.

It is the individuals’ responsibility to be aware of their surroundings. Before some one consumes something that they have never seen before don’t they normally say, “What is that”? Before you take any vaccine you should ask yourself what it is and do the necessary research to find out what it actually is. I am not saying that you will ever come across something so exotic as anthrax, but you should question everything and go with you gut.

Following orders only for the reason that someone told you to is ridiculous. You wouldn’t hit yourself in the head with a hammer just because some one told you to, so don’t inflict any harm on yourself unless you are certain it is your only alternative.