{"id":24614,"date":"2021-08-27T13:03:22","date_gmt":"2021-08-27T13:03:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/08\/27\/inside-fort-jacksons-vaccine-only-basic-training-graduation\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:25:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:25:57","slug":"inside-fort-jacksons-vaccine-only-basic-training-graduation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2021\/08\/27\/inside-fort-jacksons-vaccine-only-basic-training-graduation\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Fort Jackson\u2019s vaccine-only basic training graduation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">FORT JACKSON, S.C. \u2014 At a hazy, humid Thursday morning ceremony on Fort Jackson\u2019s Hilton Field, some 951 basic combat training graduates from 1st Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, marked the beginning of their Army careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thousands of their friends and families clapped and cheered from the stands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And every single adult guest there was vaccinated against COVID-19, in accordance with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2021\/08\/13\/no-covid-shot-fort-jackson-bct-to-require-families-to-be-fully-vaccinated-for-graduation\/\">new policy ordered earlier this month<\/a> by Fort Jackson\u2019s commanding general. Family members had to show their proof of vaccination in order to enter the installation.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2021\/08\/13\/no-covid-shot-fort-jackson-bct-to-require-families-to-be-fully-vaccinated-for-graduation\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/original-1-1.jpg-1.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">No COVID shot? Fort Jackson BCT to require families to be fully vaccinated for graduation<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Family of Fort Jackson basic training personnel will soon require vaccination in order to access post for graduation events.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Army Times spoke with trainees, parents and the battalion\u2019s commander about the rule and how it impacted their vaccination decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When the mandatory vaccination policy for guests was first announced in a unit Facebook post from battalion commander Lt. Col. Mike O\u2019Donnell, the reaction was fast and furious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe probably got within the first 72 hours upwards of 800 [comments],\u201d he told Army Times in the bleachers after the ceremony. \u201cThere were a handful of aggressive comments, saying \u2018How dare you force me to be vaccinated\u2019\u2026Some of the most aggressive ones, we had to [hide] them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The post included detailed instructions for family members who wanted to get the shot in order to make it to graduation \u2014 they had only 72 hours to find the Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine in order to be considered \u201cfully vaccinated\u201d in time, O\u2019Donnell explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Initially, the battalion\u2019s graduation was intended to include unvaccinated guests, too. But the highly-contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus \u2014 and rising case and hospitalization numbers in the surrounding community \u2014 led Brig. Gen. Patrick Michaelis to change the post access guidelines on short notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In response, many hopeful graduation guests scrambled to locate the vaccine in time to attend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One such guest was Steve Manthei, a retired Army staff sergeant whose son is next headed to AIT as a fire support specialist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe had not [received our vaccines]\u201d before learning of the requirement, Manthei told Army Times after the ceremony. \u201cWe live in a rural area of Kentucky, just not around a lot of people. I live on a farm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And the delta variant began to surge just as he and his wife made their shot appointments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThings are picking up even in our county. My sister tested positive; her husband tested positive,\u201d Manthei noted. \u201cVaccinations have been part of my life since I was 18 \u2014 it was a no-brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trainees and family members who were vaccinated long before the attendance requirement expressed gratitude, as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c[This requirement] wasn\u2019t a big shocker, because it\u2019s becoming mandatory in a lot of places,\u201d said Pvt. Cheyenne Combs, a split-option training soldier from Norfolk, Virginia, who will return to school at Virginia Commonwealth University next week before going to AIT next summer as an automated logistical specialist. Her university is requiring on-campus students to receive the vaccine as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"4032\" height=\"2067\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/pubIMG_3372.png.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-52678\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/pubIMG_3372.png.png 4032w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/pubIMG_3372.png.png?resize=300,154 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/pubIMG_3372.png.png?resize=768,394 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/pubIMG_3372.png.png?resize=1024,525 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/pubIMG_3372.png.png?resize=1536,787 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/pubIMG_3372.png.png?resize=2048,1050 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 4032px) 100vw, 4032px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Family members and guests, all vaccinated against COVID-19, watch 1st Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment soldiers graduate from basic combat training at Hilton Field, Fort Jackson, South Carolina on August 26, 2021. (Staff\/Davis Winkie)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She empathized for her peers whose family members opted to skip the graduation instead of getting the shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere are a lot of people whose families don\u2019t believe in the vaccine, and were not vaccinated, and had planned on coming, and even had already made [travel] arrangements,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, for them, it was a big shocker\u2026not everyone was pleased, but under what we\u2019re going through throughout the country, I think it is mandatory for the protection of us soldiers and the families here today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Retired Army Lt. Col. Billy Cook \u2014 who described himself as Combs\u2019 \u201cbonus dad\u201d \u2014 told Army Times that the vaccine requirement makes sense, given the conditions of basic training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI knew the Army was going to do the best thing for the soldiers,\u201d Cook said. \u201cIf one soldier gets even a cold, potentially the whole company can get it. So if a cold spreads like that, imagine what COVID would do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And he would know. He was stationed at Fort Jackson as a company commander and as a training battalion executive officer before he retired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In recent months, despite the surge in cases off-post, COVID-19 mitigation measures have kept the number of trainee cases low at Fort Jackson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">O\u2019Donnell, a Special Forces officer, said his battalion had only a \u201chandful\u201d of positive tests this training cycle, and noted that 75 percent of his trainees had accepted the vaccine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He expressed regret that unvaccinated family members weren\u2019t able to attend, but noted his commitment to protecting his soldiers and upholding Fort Jackson health protocols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey\u2019re missing out on a very important milestone in their young soldier\u2019s life,\u201d O\u2019Donnell explained. \u201cThey\u2019re graduating from something that most of them have never known they could do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWith a little bit of dedication, and a little bit of discipline, the formations can stay healthy and we can keep the train moving forward on basic combat training,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thousands of fully-vaccinated guests exclusively attended the Thursday graduation of 1st Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment&#8217;s basic training 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By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Inside Fort Jackson\u2019s vaccine-only basic training graduation - Army Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thousands of fully-vaccinated guests exclusively attended the Thursday graduation of 1st Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment&#039;s basic training soldiers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Inside Fort Jackson\u2019s vaccine-only basic training graduation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thousands of fully-vaccinated guests exclusively attended the Thursday graduation of 1st Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment&#039;s basic training soldiers.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2021\/08\/27\/inside-fort-jacksons-vaccine-only-basic-training-graduation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Army Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-27T13:03:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T02:25:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Davis Winkie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Davis Winkie\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            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