Exclusive: A best GOP senator is demanding answers from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin immediately after WHD News Digital claimed that U.S. Navy company members who are trying to find religious exemptions to the Section of Defense's COVID-19 vaccine mandate have been transferred into deplorable dwelling problems.

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., who sits on the Senate Committee Homeland Stability and Governmental Affairs, sent a letter to Austin Monday afternoon, to start with received by WHD News.

"The moment all over again, I am creating to you with time-delicate requests and grave concerns over the procedure of service users who have religious objections to getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Just when I imagined the Department of Defense’s mistreatment of assistance associates with spiritual objections to the vaccine could not get worse, it has," Lankford wrote. 

"Despite the fact that many of my earlier letters show up to have been overlooked, recent studies necessitate that I produce yet again, as the dwelling and employment situations have worsened for company members being unfairly addressed by the stringent and uneven vaccine mandate insurance policies compelled on them by this Administration," he ongoing.

UNVAXXED NAVY SAILORS Confront 'DEPLORABLE' Dwelling Disorders Whilst Spiritual EXEMPTIONS PEND

U.S. Navy assistance users who are in search of religious exemptions to the Section of Defense's COVID-19 vaccine mandate have been transferred into deplorable dwelling circumstances while awaiting their termination from the armed forces, according to courtroom documents. (Navy Declaration/To start with Liberty Institute)

"At greatest, these stories display your lack of treatment for the services users you direct. At worst, it demonstrates an energetic disdain for and hostility toward them," the senator said, referring to WHD News' reporting.

In a court submitting in June by Very first Liberty in the Northern District of Texas Fort Worth Division District Courtroom, sailors recounted deplorable circumstances on massive U.S. vessels, where by they remain ready as their scenarios are adjudicated. 

1 sailor who is now portion of a class action lawsuit said in a court docket-submitted declaration that they "could not go away the region" immediately after asking to be terminated from the navy owing to spiritual objections to the mandate and were moved to the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower plane carrier's berthing barge, where the situations are "deplorable."

"These situations render that of an authoritarian and abusive authorities, which falls significantly down below the conventional of the military services of the best nation on earth. I urge you in the strongest feasible terms to promptly choose motion to make sure that no company member is subjected to deplorable, unlawful retribution for training their sincerely held spiritual beliefs. I demand your swift action in auditing and remedying the performing and residing problems of these sailors," he ongoing.

The senator said that "as just about every day passes, the COVID-19 vaccine is a lot more irrelevant and the mandate is extra oppressive," and requested a "swift resolution" of the subject.

The Pentagon did not straight away answer to a request for comment on Lankford's letter and demands.

U.S. Navy provider users who are searching for spiritual exemptions to the Division of Defense's COVID-19 vaccine mandate have been transferred into deplorable residing circumstances while awaiting their termination from the navy, according to court files. (Navy Declaration/Very first Liberty Institute)

"The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), or ‘IKE’, is at this time going through maintenance at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. When ships are in maintenance durations, Sailors on duty and those people who do not have housing in city dwell on the berthing barge," Robert Myers, Commander of the Naval Air Drive Atlantic stated in a statement to WHD News Electronic in response to the original posting past 7 days detailing the circumstances.

"Considering that relocating the crew to the berthing barge much more than a calendar year ago, the Commanding Officer has assigned a senior officer to oversee and guarantee residing problems are preserved within Navy specifications. A five-man or woman IKE staff comprised of Sailors operates with contractors to right mechanical concerns. Leaking or clogged plumbing, like any high-quality of everyday living difficulties, are episodic and are corrected as soon as possible – generally the identical working day or inside of 24 hours of becoming described to management. Any discrepancies that are past the scope of Sailors assigned are directed to a contracted maintenance help staff," he continued. 

"The IKE crew conducts cleaning stations and sweepers everyday, equally on the IKE and also on the berthing barge. This All Fingers effort and hard work is intended to guarantee that Sailors — these living and functioning on the berthing barge — have ownership and pleasure in the spaces exactly where they reside and operate."

U.S. Navy assistance associates who are trying to find spiritual exemptions to the Division of Defense's COVID-19 vaccine mandate have been transferred into deplorable residing ailments while awaiting their termination from the armed forces, according to court docket paperwork. (Navy Declaration/1st Liberty Institute)

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 "The IKE has a quite tiny quantity of Sailors refusing the COVID-19 vaccine and/or seeking an exemption from the vaccine. When undergoing the administrative method of staying separated from the Navy, IKE leadership has supplied alternatives to accommodate liberty requests (past weekends and vacations) for these Sailors to make sure they can prepare for life after the Navy. The Navy is not mindful of any Sailors that were being unable to leave while awaiting discharge from their obligated company."

The Navy did not reply to WHD News Digital's issues concerning how long it will take to terminate a sailor or when sailors looking for a spiritual exemption to the vaccine would be allowed back again onboard the USS Dwight D Eisenhower.