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For all of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s professed interest in “lethality” and warfighting, the former Fox News host has invested an unsettling amount of time and energy into assorted cultural crusades....

Though it might be tempting to think Hegseth would steer clear of the culture war for a while, especially since he’s leading the Pentagon during an actual war, the beleaguered secretary apparently can’t help himself. Politico reported:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday announced an end to the mandatory flu vaccine for all service members, citing a need to restore ‘medical autonomy.’

In a memo issued by Hegseth, the Defense Department said effective immediately, the annual influenza vaccine is voluntary for all active-duty and reserve troops, including civilian personnel in the department. Service members may still choose to receive the vaccine, but it is no longer a condition of service, marking a sweeping reversal of a longstanding health policy.

The secretary probably wouldn’t find the historical details interesting, but let’s take a stroll down memory lane anyway.

During the Revolutionary War, smallpox took such a brutal toll on the American military that George Washington believed he had no choice but to “inoculate all the troops.” The general did exactly that in 1777, and as historian Craig Bruce Smith explained in a memorable piece for Time magazine in 2021, Washington’s decision helped save the lives of countless patriots and “undoubtedly helped ensure the survival of the United States.”

In the generations that followed, the American military has looked out for its troops in the same way Washington did. And in contemporary times, service members have long been required to get plenty of shots as part of their service, including protections against ailments such as diphtheria and measles.....

As The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer noted, “Nothing has killed more soldiers in the history of humanity than disease.” American leaders have wisely taken steps for generations to try to prevent this from happening.

Hegseth, on the heels of a flu season that generated 340,000 hospitalizations and 21,000 deaths in the U.S., is nevertheless deliberately moving the armed forces backward, to the benefit of no one.