The Army also announced Thursday it has fired two battalion commanders over the order.
The Marine Corps has booted 103 of its members for refusing the Covid vaccine, the service announced on Thursday, even as all the military branches report that a vast majority of troops have gotten the shots.
The news comes the same day the Army announced that it has relieved six leaders — including two commanding officers — over the issue, and that almost 4,000 active-duty soldiers have refused the vaccine. The t
wo Army officers, both of whom commanded active-duty battalions, join Navy Cmdr. Lucian Kins, the executive officer of the destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill, who was relieved this month, as the highest-ranking officers to be punished for defying the order.
The Army would not identify the two officers.
The moves come as the individual services begin the process of separating what could amount to thousands of troops who refuse the order to be vaccinated, a complicated undertaking that impacts everyone from newly enlisted service members to high-ranking officers in command of hundreds of personnel.
The vast majorities of each service have received their shots. The Army and Navy are each at about 98 percent, while the Air Force stands at 97.5 percent and the Marine Corps at 95 percent.
Approximately 72 percent of the U.S. population has been vaccinated.
The Army announced Thursday that in January it will begin the work of separating soldiers who have refused the order and have already relieved six active-duty leaders, including the two battalion commanders, and issued 2,767 reprimands to soldiers for refusing the vaccination.
Those reprimands generally allow a soldier to continue to serve, but are seen as a block to any future promotion, effectively killing a career.
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The Marine Corps has booted 103 of its members for refusing the Covid vaccine https://t.co/9vn1YYsndv
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