ORT
DRUM, N.Y., March 4 — The Army has court-martialed a soldier from the 10th
Mountain Division for refusing to be vaccinated against anthrax and
influenza, officials at Fort Drum said today.
Pvt. Rhonda Hazley, 36, a mechanic with 514th Maintenance Company, was
convicted March 21 of disobeying the orders of an officer and a
noncommissioned officer, said Col. Robert Caslen, the division's chief of
staff.
The court martial reduced her rank to private. She also was ordered to
serve 14 days confinement.
"This is a force-protection issue," Colonel Caslen said. "We expect
service members to comply with administration of all mandatory vaccines.
Service members who do not comply with these measures endanger their own
health and place both their unit and mission accomplishment at risk."
Private Hazley, of East Dublin, Ga., refused the vaccine because she is
breast-feeding her child, her friend Stephanie Ingram told WWTI-TV, a local
television station. Private Hazley joined the Army in April 1999 and was
assigned to Fort Drum six months later.
A reservist at Fort Drum, Kamila Iwanowska, 26, from New York City, also
faces a special court martial for refusing to receive the anthrax vaccine,
The Watertown Daily Times reported today.
A Fort Drum spokesman, Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, confirmed that Ms.
Iwanowska refused the vaccine, but he could not say whether disciplinary
proceedings had been brought against her.
Ms. Iwanowska, a recently naturalized Polish immigrant, objected because
she feared that the vaccination could have adverse effects on her ability to
have a baby, her lawyer, Lionel Hector, said.
"She's not opposed to going to Iraq," Mr. Hector said. "She's willing to
do her job. She is just adamantly opposed to this particular vaccination."