With those words, Air Force Reserve Capt. Hans Reigle told me June 26 about the end of his years as an instructor pilot of the huge C-5 Galaxy transport. A part-time reservist who is also an airline pilot, Reigle is leaving the military cockpit because of his reluctance to receive shots inoculating him against anthrax. The Pentagon has made the anthrax vaccination mandatory, starting with those deemed most likely to be where biological weapons are used. As pilot of a cargo plane at Dover Air Force Base, Del., Reigle belongs to that up-front contingent.
American strategy is to use military planes to carry things and civilian aircraft to haul people.
If war breaks out tomorrow, the flight line near the front lines will be packed with military pilots who have taken the shots and civilian contract pilots who have not. This is one of the contradictions swirling amid the Pentagon's insistence on giving a series of six anthrax shots to everyone in uniform. And those orders come from the very top. Two hundred thousand members of the armed forces have begun the anthrax vaccinations. In fact, many past and present Air Force members support the effort and lack sympathy for Reigle and other resisters.