Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum Wednesday directing the Pentagon to expedite the reinstatement of service members who were discharged for refusing the Covid-19 vaccine during the Biden Administration. This action follows President Donald Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order, which undid the Biden Covid vaccine mandates.
“We’re doing everything we can, as quickly as we can, to reinstate those who were affected by that policy,” Hegseth said.
The Department of Defense’s now has initiated outreach efforts to contact the more than 8,700 former service members affected by the Biden mandate. Defense has sent letters of apology, emails, phone calls, and is providing information through official websites and social media channels to try to reach the men and women who were separated from service and inform them about how they can come back at their previous rank, and the along with the possibility of getting back pay and benefits they would have earned had they been retained in the military.
Under the new policy, those who were involuntarily separated solely due to vaccine refusal are eligible for reinstatement and back pay. The back pay will be calculated based on what the service member would have received had they not been discharged, minus any income or benefits they received during their time away from the military.
“It hasn’t been perfect, and we know that,” Hegseth said. “We’re having an ongoing conversation with you to get it right. [We’re] working with the White House as well. We want anyone impacted by that vaccine mandate back into the military — people of conscience, warriors of conscience — back in our formations.”
The Army has reenlisted at least two dozen soldiers who were discharged for refusing the shot. Other branches, including the Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy, have initiated outreach to the men and women they discharged during Biden.
“The guidance also will facilitate the removal of adverse actions on service members solely for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine, including discharge upgrades and less than fully honorable discharges for individuals separated from refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine,” Hegseth said. “We’re trying to scrub all that, clean all that up.”
In July 2021, vaccination mandates were issued for federal employees, federal contractors, and military service members.
Despite growing evidence suggesting vaccinated individuals could still transmit Covid-19, these mandates continued to be enforced, significantly affecting the American workforce.
Despite eventual rescission of the mandates due to constitutional, statutory, financial, and other harms inflicted upon citizens, service members, and businesses, the military mandate remained.
An estimated 1.4 million active-duty and reserve service members were subject to the mandate, including members of the National Guard.
Clean out the last remnants of the COVID scam. Never again.
An excellent move!
These members of the armed forces who refused to submit to the experimental, unsafe and ineffective Wuhan Virus clot shots should not just be reinstated, but selectively targeted for promotion wherever warranted. Because by refusing to submit, they demonstrated their courage in the face of extreme coercion and bullying by those in power, as well as having demonstrated their moral and intellectual integrity. THESE are the kind of people who should be defending us, rather than cowards and quislings.
Let’s see how many decide to come back and work for this guy. And will the offer still be valid if he gets fired next week?
American warriors will come back in droves once Hegseth ejects the undeployable trannies, pup-play bondage queers and Obama’s six-figure salary DEI enforcers. Bringing back traditional Confederate names to famous military posts would be a great follow up.
Excellent.
Two things: 1) The Alaska Air National Guard was one branch of service where some service men and women did not get kicked out for refusal. This is is due to strong leadership at the top. Thank you General Stratton and Governor Dunleavy! 2) I personally know some folks who are trying to get back into their active duty jobs, but one thing that isn’t forthcoming is reinstating their accrued benefits. The way I understand it, things like “TAFMS” (Total Active Federal Military Service) are not being reinstated. In other words: let’s say you worked for 10 years in active duty service before getting kicked out. Now when you come back, you will still have another 20 years to serve, not 10, before qualifying for retirement. For some, this isn’t worth it: after spending 5 years now working in another job… they’re already half way caught up on a retirement from another gig, only to turn around and start over for a third time in life. Fully reinstating the servicemen who were alienated during that time would necessarily need to include setting back up exactly the way they were when they left: TAFMS, GI Bill, documented injuries that accrue VA or military disability benefits, etc.
They should go back and recoup the back pay for these service members from Austin and Biden for issuing an illegal order. Austin should also be charged for dereliction of duty for issuing a bluntly illegal order.
Good. And reimburse them for lost wages.
They’re ignoring all the service members who were coerced into “voluntarily” separating in order to avoid a dishonorable discharge for refusing the experimental gene therapy.
Natural Alaskan,
Me… I took a medical they dug up in lieu of dishonorable discharge rather than obey an unlawful order.. I do have honorable discharge, va pays me a couple dollars a month… honestly I’ve been struggling ever since.. but I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. My body, my choice.. it states right in the multiple LOC’s I signed in my commander’s office…. “FDA approved blah blah.” (Paraphrasing). I’d probably never go back to be honest. Too full of yes men.
I don’t want the money at this point…. Wind chimes are in order.
-SSgt Lee