Rep. Ron Estes announces his guest for this year's State of the Union address to Congress, retired Col. Kevin Rainey, U.S. Air Force.
Col. Rainey served in the United States Air Force for nearly 29 years, including at McConnell Air Force Base. He now trains pilots for the KC-46 as a simulator contractor. During the pandemic, Col. Rainey voluntarily received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine but strongly disagreed with the Biden administration's vaccine mandate for service members and federal contractors. As a result of the mandate, Col. Rainey witnessed service members or potential service members violate their own conscience, choose early retirement or simply not join the armed forces, negatively affecting the readiness of the armed forces. As a simulator trainer for an integral tanker aircraft in the Air Force, this concerned Col. Rainey.
