Service members who opposed the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate and now want to reenlist continue to face obstacles, as some may not qualify for back pay and other provisions promised by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and President Donald Trump.
Members of the U.S. armed forces also remain subject to the military’s flu vaccine mandate. The DOD regularly denies requests for religious exemptions.
The armed forces implemented its COVID-19 vaccine mandate on Aug. 24, 2021, which was rescinded on Jan. 10, 2023.
However, service members weren’t offered back pay, and disciplinary actions connected to their refusal of the vaccine remained on their records. As a result, only 43 of the over 8,000 service members who were discharged returned, according to the White House.
In January of this year, Trump issued a presidential action seeking to correct “an injustice,” and directing the DOD to reinstate all previously discharged members, with “their former rank and full back pay with benefits.”
Service members seeking reenlistment asked to state they left ‘voluntarily’
After Trump’s executive order, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines implemented procedures for reinstating discharged service members. In a memorandum signed Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth further clarified the reinstatement procedures.
However, discharged service members say several obstacles remain — including a requirement that they state, in writing, that they left the military voluntarily and of their own free will.
According to the Army, the reenlistment process “includes, among other things, submitting a written statement attesting that they chose to leave the service or allowed their service to lapse rather than be vaccinated under the mandate.” Other branches of the military have adopted a similar requirement.
Jordan Karr, a U.S. Air Force veteran who previously sued the DOD over its vaccine mandate, said it is “absurd and untrue” to say service members who opposed the COVID-19 vaccine mandate left voluntarily. She said the statement that the Air Force asked service members to sign was “ridiculous.”
I cannot in good faith encourage anyone to sign their name to this form. @DoD_USD_PR @SecDef I am on your side but this feels like a new administration applying the same “gun to your head” tactics from the previous administration.
Feels like “If you want to return all you… pic.twitter.com/8gstQCweql
— Jordan Karr (@JordanLkarr) April 8, 2025
According to The Gateway Pundit, the form stated, in part:
“I, [name], attest I voluntarily separated from the (Air) (Space) Force or allowed my service to lapse rather than be vaccinated under the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, which was in effect from 24 August 2021 to 10 January 2023. My decision to separate was made freely and without coercion.”
In his memorandum, Hegseth said he and the DOD are working to correct problems with the reenlistment process. In an accompanying video shared by The Gateway Pundit, Hegseth offered an apology “for how it was done” and said “we want to fix it.”
“We’re doing everything we can, as quickly as we can, to reinstate those who were affected by that policy. It hasn’t been perfect, and we know that. We’re having an ongoing conversation with you to get it right, working with the White House as well,” Hegseth said.
The Military Times reported earlier this month that Tim Dill, deputy under secretary of defense for Personnel & Readiness, said the DOD would send “letters of apology” to discharged service members, along with reenlistment instructions. The reenlistment offer will remain valid for one year.
Earlier this month, The Associated Press reported that the Army has reenlisted three active duty soldiers who were discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
Despite promises, not all reinstated service members may receive back pay
According to Pam Long, director of Children’s Health Defense’s (CHD) Military Chapter, Trump’s executive order and Hegseth’s recent remarks are positive developments — but more is needed.
“You have to correct their discharge statuses to ‘honorable,’ and you have to remedy, somehow, these career setbacks where people did not get the training and promotions that they need for advancement to make it to a full career, full 20 years to retirement, where they get their benefits,” Long said.
Hegseth addressed some of those concerns in Wednesday’s video, saying new guidance given to the military “will facilitate the removal of adverse actions on service members solely for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine.”
“We’ll also facilitate appropriate remedies for service members who have suffered additional career setbacks resulting from the previous administration’s unlawful vaccine mandate,” Hegseth said.
One such remedy is offering back pay — the subject of lawsuits against the DOD — to reinstated service members. However, this offer comes with a caveat.
According to the AP, while service members may be eligible to receive lost salary, bonus payments, cost-of-living allowances and some health benefit costs, “any wages earned during their time as civilians would be deducted from the back pay total, along with other payments they may have received.”
“When Trump’s executive order promised reinstatement and back pay, the public perceived, we’ve remedied this. We’ve fixed this problem of this massive retention and recruitment, historical retention and recruitment problem that the Department of Defense has. But it didn’t fix anything,” Long said.
According to Long, the number of service members affected by the vaccine mandate is also significantly larger than commonly reported by the government, military or the media.
“There were another 96,000 people who left through voluntary discharges, but they were not true voluntary discharges,” Long said. “They were coerced out. They were punished. They were given a general letter of reprimand. And a lot of them were not allowed to be promoted or were taken out of command, which is career-ending.”
Long said these service members also would be eligible for reinstatement benefits.
Karr said some previously discharged service members “want to return,” but many “are feeling demoralized by the first set of memorandums that the services put out” and the obstacles they have faced. “A lot will depend on the guidance given to the boards and how serious the Secretary of Defense and the service secretaries are about wanting to make this right.”
Karr and Long said the executive order and the DOD’s subsequent actions haven’t included any accountability for those responsible for implementing the vaccine mandate in the first place — and this is contributing to hesitancy on the part of some service members considering reenlisting.
“Many do not want to return knowing our abusers have been promoted while our careers were either derailed or lost entirely,” Karr said.
“There is no question that this was an unlawful mandate from senior leadership, which is criminal under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and should be prosecuted,” Long said.
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Military’s religious accommodation process ‘broken’
Service members also face another obstacle to reenlistment — a “broken” religious accommodation process, Long said.
While COVID-19 vaccines are no longer mandated for service members, flu shots are still required — and those seeking exemptions have faced difficulties in getting those requests approved.
“We know there are hundreds of service members right now facing adverse action, career setbacks, punishment in discharge for refusing the influenza vaccine because the religious accommodation process is completely broken in the military … they reapply each year. They never hear anything back. It goes nowhere,” Long said.
The military’s flu vaccine mandate likely remains in place due to pressure from Big Pharma, Long said — even though recent studies have shown negative efficacy for the flu vaccines developed for the 2024-2025 flu season.
Karr said she knows “many service members” who are facing disciplinary action for their decision not to get the flu vaccine.
“Commanders have too much power when it comes to our medical choices,” Karr said. “They can default to ‘for the good of the force,’ as an excuse to deny exemptions without ever having to justify that claim.”
Earlier this week, Just The News reported that two service members were denied religious exemptions for the flu vaccine and are now “at risk of being forced out of the military after they previously fought the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.”
These challenges were reflected in a recent survey by CHD’s Military Chapter, to which 80 military members responded. The survey found that service members in all branches and across multiple ranks face “punitive” actions for refusing the flu vaccine.
The survey contained recommendations, which Long said were shared with U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and an HHS-DOD liaison. They include an “immediate moratorium” on flu vaccine mandates, “immediate amnesty” for affected service members and the removal of DOD’s “90-100% compliance metric” for flu vaccine uptake.
Related articles in The Defender- Trump Orders Military to Reinstate Members Booted for Refusing COVID Vaccines
- ‘Military Leaders Broke the Law’: Over 200 Active Duty and Retired Service Members Demand Accountability for Harms Caused by COVID Vaccine Mandate
- Watch: Military’s COVID Vaccine Mandate ‘Illegal’ Lawyer Says
- Military’s Flu Vaccine Mandate Is Cash Cow for Big Pharma, But Wrong for Service Members
- ‘Deeply Concerning’: This Year’s Flu Shots Led to 27% Higher Risk of Flu
