Five Republican governors are saying DOD is overstepping its “constitutional and statutory authority” by requiring that National Guard members be separated from service if they refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Govs. Mark Gordon (Wyo.), Mike Dunleavy (Alaska), Kim Reynolds (Iowa), Tate Reeves (Miss.) and Pete Ricketts (Neb.) acknowledged in a Dec. 14 letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that Austin has authority to establish readiness standards but insisted that they have the right to manage Guard troops unless they are called into federal duty.

“It’s unconscionable to think the government will go so far as to strip these honorable men and women of the nation’s top duties if they don’t comply,” Reynolds said in a statement. “They protect the very freedoms that the federal government apparently doesn’t believe they too deserve.”

Air National Guard photo of Gov. Kim Reynolds by Tech. Sgt. Linda K. Burger