What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will reward each person according to what he has done.

- Matthew 16:26-27

For almost 20 years, Colonel “BB” King served as an officer and a pilot in the United States Air Force (USAF) Reserve. She was the Director of Operations of the Training Squadron at the C-5M Formal Training Unit, where she also served as an Instructor and Evaluator until the Summer of 2021. BB was plucked from her Director of Operations role when she was requested by name to serve as the lead officer, charged with standing up a division branch under Air Education Training Command, in support of a newly signed strategy by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. Unfortunately, within three months of accepting this new role and following the Covid-19 shot mandate, Col King’s full-time Active Duty orders were unilaterally canceled by the Air Force Reserve’s Fourth Air Force Commander because of her verbalization of sincerely held beliefs which precluded her from being able to accept the abortion-tainted, gene-modifying Emergency Use Authorized shots. She was subsequently prevented from serving as a subject matter expert in C-5M Super Galaxy, and Readiness and Training for Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) at Fourth Air Force (4AF) under the Director of Air Operations as a Traditional Reservist. She was later given a Letter of Reprimand for filing medical exemptions after she submitted her religious accommodation request. Ultimately, this accomplished and outstanding officer of 19 and a half years was unjustly separated from the military due to her decision stand firm in her faith, her unwavering resolve to support and defend the United States Constitution, and her desire to follow its subordinate statutory law.

With only FOUR military deaths (125 DoD total civilian/contractor deaths) succumbing to Covid-19, the Air Force has experienced a Covid-19 survival rate of over 99.9998%. Meanwhile, thousands of healthy service members have been separated from service for refusing the vaccine. Additionally, military deaths by suicide are four times higher than deaths in combat over the past two decades; 30,178 active duty personnel and veterans who served since 9/11 have died by suicide. Suicides and all cause mortality are up DRASTICALLY since the shot mandate, and these (in addition to lack of recruiting and retention due to a lack of trust in leadership) are the greatest threat to to our mission readiness and National Security. On 23 March 2022, the 4AF/CC chose to separate Col King; she was involuntarily sent to the Individual Ready Reserve - nonparticipating, which essentially terminated her unblemished and pristine career. Ironically, after being reprimanded for poor judgement and involuntarily separated, on 30 January 2023 it was publicly released that Col BB King had been selected to the rank of Colonel (0-6) based on her stellar career and record.

Colonel Select “BB” King never thought she would experience discrimination from her Air Force leaders based on her spiritual perspectives and sincerely held religious beliefs, nor did she believe she would be placed in the position of conflict between her faith and an unlawful military order. She found herself being forced to decide whether to follow God’s guidance and direction which would wrongfully result in her being kicked out of the service, or being forced to get an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) Investigational New Drug injection in order to protect her ability to serve our country, feed her family, and secure a retirement.

Although she only had to “take the shot” to make it a few short months until she was eligible for retirement, she could not succumb to the coercion and discriminatory practices to secure the worldly treasures (income and benefits) it would offer her. Col King’s conscience would not allow her to willfully go against the guidance she was provided via the Word of the Lord and the counsel of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, she had sworn a solemn oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. She was obligated to sacrifice herself to do so. The manner in which her fellow service members were treated with regard to COVID-19 is unconstitutional, unjust and unlawful. Thousands of God-fearing, country-loving, Airmen, Marines, Sailors, Soldiers, Guardians, and Coast Guard with excellent records of service have been terminated for their sincerely held beliefs and due to their desire for accommodation or exemption from a vaccination protecting against a virus with a 99.998% recovery rate. Meanwhile, their DoD Civilian counterparts and close quarter cubicle mates were not under the shot mandate. There is no compelling government interest for treating honorable service men and women in such an inhumane manner. DoD’s current recruiting deficit is confirmation of this widely understood truth.

The damage to unit cohesion, deterioration of trust and confidence in DoD leadership, and fear of punitive measures for exercising one’s Constitutionally protected, God given freedom of beliefs has already far outweighed any risk of Covid-19-induced damage to mission readiness. Terminating those service members with sincerely held religious beliefs which preclude them from taking the Covid-19 vaccine is not the least restrictive means to accommodation, but is a violation of the cherished constitutional liberties we swore to support and defend.