Marines Face Court-Martial

The five Marines who refused an anthrax vaccine face court-martials after a judge ruled Friday that the men were given a lawful order when they were told to take the shot and they had no right to disobey.

Their court-martials will begin Thursday at the Marine's 29 Palms Combat Center in California, reports CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales.

They will be tried separately -- one after the other with each trial taking about two days.

The judge ruled that the vaccination plan was a policy decision by the Department of Defense that the soldiers could not question. He also ruled that Defense Secretary Cohen's order to implement the program was a lawful order, making the issue of safety and efficacy of the vaccine irrelevant.

The five men have refused anthrax vaccinations, which the Pentagon now requires for all of the 2.4 million U.S. troops.

Lance Cpl. Jayson Austin, one of the marines on trial, says, "I don't consider myself a trouble maker, never have been. It's just, I think there's something that's being missed here."

In Thursday's hearing, Austin and four other so-called "refusniks" argued that the effectiveness of anthrax vaccine shots should be on trial, just as much as the issue of disobeying orders.

If convicted, the Marines face up to six months in jail, a loss in rank and pay and a dishonorable discharge.

Lance Cpl. Jared Schwartz says, "either way we're in a lose-lose situation. We take the shot, it may be harmful. We don't take the shot, we get punished for it."

Stephan Lundbom was expelled from the marines last month with an other-than-honorable discharge when he refused the shots. But he has few regrets. "The simple fact is the vaccine may cause just as much damage in the long run as the anthrax itself," he says.

Pentagon officials insist the anthrax vaccine is safe, and necessary in a world where the threat from biological weapons is growing. "If you're not vaccinated, if you inhale the spores you will almost certainly die," says U.S. Air Force Surgeon General Chip Roadman.

But over the last year and a half, CBS News has uncovered information that calls into question the credibility of the anthrax vaccine. In April, the General Accounting Office echoed concerns of the refusnik marines, reporting "the long-term safety of the vaccine has not yet been studied."

The Food and Drug Administration questions whether the vaccine even works against wartime use of anthrax spread through the air: "its efficacy against inhalation anthrax is not well documented."

In 1997, when the FDA finally gave the Pentagon permission to use the vaccine for mass immunizations, it was anything but a ringing endorsement. "There is a paucity of data regarding the effectiveness of anthrax vaccine," wrote Lead Deputy FDA Commissioner Michael Friedman.

"I can dodge a bullet," says Austin, "but I can't dodge a shot."

The five marines re worried about their long-term health. The Pentagon says they must not be permitted to dodge military discipline.