My heart goes out to your acquaintance and I want her to know that she’s not alone. I’m a Canadian-born dual citizen married to an active-duty US military member stationed in Germany. I haven’t seen my parents in Canada for nearly two years because I wasn’t willing to stay in a Canadian quarantine hotel with my young daughter (who would, considering there were documented sexual assaults?).
As for Germany, my daughter and I have been barred from “non-essential” shops, cinemas, restaurants, and cultural life. We used to be able to do certain things with a negative test but that ended a few months ago. Not only that, but they decided to make double -vaccinated (but unboosted) people take rapid tests to go to restaurants and cinemas. This policy swiftly moved my husband from the “fully-vaccinated” to the “leper”category. Make it make sense.
So, we wait. Hoping that my daughter’s school doesn’t mandate the vaccine and/or that Germany doesn’t mandate it for all residents over 18 because, if so, my husband will be finishing his tour here in Germany on his own while his wife and daughter flee to a state in the US where they won’t be treated like undesirables.
As a couple we’ve been through a deployment, a year-long remote tour, and many lengthy TDYs. Those missed birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, dance recitals, etc…you never get them back. But I always felt that the separation was for a purpose. Duty. Service.
The thought that our family could have to do a year or more apart because of these coercive, unethical, and dehumanizing policies makes me sick.
Ugh. Sorry to hear, Jolene. Can I put this comment out there more widely? Anonymously? More people need to hear these stories. "What civil rights violations?!"
I've struggled for almost two years to make sense of this, without allowing myself the conclusion that these people are evil, stupid or simply scared. I posted a one-and-done essay on my Substack page. It's not emotionally satisfying to any side, but it's the only thing that makes to me. We might be more complicated than we think, and this theory might require a change in our assumptions about Devine influence, at least in our disign.
My heart goes out to your acquaintance and I want her to know that she’s not alone. I’m a Canadian-born dual citizen married to an active-duty US military member stationed in Germany. I haven’t seen my parents in Canada for nearly two years because I wasn’t willing to stay in a Canadian quarantine hotel with my young daughter (who would, considering there were documented sexual assaults?).
As for Germany, my daughter and I have been barred from “non-essential” shops, cinemas, restaurants, and cultural life. We used to be able to do certain things with a negative test but that ended a few months ago. Not only that, but they decided to make double -vaccinated (but unboosted) people take rapid tests to go to restaurants and cinemas. This policy swiftly moved my husband from the “fully-vaccinated” to the “leper”category. Make it make sense.
So, we wait. Hoping that my daughter’s school doesn’t mandate the vaccine and/or that Germany doesn’t mandate it for all residents over 18 because, if so, my husband will be finishing his tour here in Germany on his own while his wife and daughter flee to a state in the US where they won’t be treated like undesirables.
As a couple we’ve been through a deployment, a year-long remote tour, and many lengthy TDYs. Those missed birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, dance recitals, etc…you never get them back. But I always felt that the separation was for a purpose. Duty. Service.
The thought that our family could have to do a year or more apart because of these coercive, unethical, and dehumanizing policies makes me sick.
Ugh. Sorry to hear, Jolene. Can I put this comment out there more widely? Anonymously? More people need to hear these stories. "What civil rights violations?!"
Share away! And thank you for being a voice of reason through all this.
I've struggled for almost two years to make sense of this, without allowing myself the conclusion that these people are evil, stupid or simply scared. I posted a one-and-done essay on my Substack page. It's not emotionally satisfying to any side, but it's the only thing that makes to me. We might be more complicated than we think, and this theory might require a change in our assumptions about Devine influence, at least in our disign.