NASHVILLE, Tennessee – The Tennessee Star spoke with Jody Barrett, the John Rich-endorsed candidate for Tennessee State House District 69 at the “Guard Freedom” event held by state legislators and off-duty guardsmen in support of soldiers who are about to lose their jobs due to their refusal to comply with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Barrett expressed his hope that Governor Bill Lee and Attorney General Herb Slatery III will take action to save the guardsmen’s jobs.
“I’m very hopeful that our governor and our attorney general will step forward to do the right thing and stand in the gap for these guys. They need to protect our National Guardsmen,” Barrett said.
“It is one of those opportunities to show everybody exactly how important this is to fight against this stuff that is coming down from the federal government,” he said.
“The COVID vaccine stuff that we’ve now seen for over two years, it is very clear now with all the data that is in that it is a marginally effective shot. It certainly is not a vaccine. It is more along the lines of an influenza shot that doesn’t seem to really be consistently effective at achieving what it is intended to do,” Barrett added.
Barrett put into perspective the true cost of losing National Guard soldiers due to this vaccine mandate.
“Putting a mandate in place that is going to cost us 10 percent of our military force with the National Guard here in Tennessee, with all of the stuff we’ve got going on across the state – not only here in our state with natural disasters where we need the National Guard to be ready and sitting on go, but also on our southern border and immigration issues coming in. We’ve got to be ready and fully staffed, ready to go at a moment’s notice,” he said.
The Star asked Barrett if he was a member of the General Assembly at the moment, if he would support the idea of a special session to address the issues that the firing of the guardsmen will create.
“Well, this is exactly what a special called session is for, for emergency situations that come up when we’re not in session. It is for things that can’t wait. I mean, we’ve got guys that are 10 percent of our National Guard force that are about to be decommissioned and sent off the force. This is exactly what we need to be prepared for and come to work to do our job as a state legislature to protect our citizens,” he said.
“Look, these guys are first, Tennessee citizens and second, soldiers. We’ve got to be able to be prepared and come fight for them,” Barrett emphasized.
Barrett attended the event to show his support for those soldiers. He did not campaign at the event, but The Star was able to get his thoughts on the situation.
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]. Follow Aaron on GETTR, Twitter, Truth Social, and Parler.
Photo “Jody Barrett” by Jody Barrett. Background Photo “Tennessee National Guard Members” by Tennessee National Guard.Â
