Pete Hegseth wants to reinstate, with pay and rank, troops kicked out for refusing vaccine
If Pete Hegseth becomes Secretary of Defense, he will begin the process of correcting the wrong done to troops kicked out for refusing the COVID-19 Vaccine. During the first day of his confirmation hearing, Hegseth mentioned the fact that troops were kicked out of the military due to their refusal to take an experimental vaccine. He declared that these troops would receive an apology and be reinstated and re-instituted with pay and rank.
From Air Force Times:
During comments at his confirmation hearing Tuesday, Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth vowed to reinstate and reimburse troops dismissed from the ranks for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine years ago.
The surprise statement came amid unrelated questions about Hegseth’s views towards diversity and discrimination policies in the military. Hegseth, who previously served in the National Guard, said past Pentagon policies requiring the vaccine amounted to its own form of religious discrimination.
“Tens of thousands of service members were kicked out because of an experimental vaccine,” Hegseth said. “They will be apologized to. They will be reinstated, reinstituted with pay and rank.”
Defense Department leaders mandated the COVID-19 vaccine for all troops from August 2021 to January 2023, with limited exceptions for medical issues or religious objections. About 8,000 troops were forced out of the service for refusing the order.
That number represents less than half of 1% of the total military end strength. But in the years since the mandate was lifted, conservative lawmakers have accused Defense Department officials of severely impacting force readiness with the dismissals and called for those individuals to be allowed to return to the ranks.
Additional Reading:
Shane III, L. (2025, January 14). Hegseth promises to reinstate, repay troops who refused COVID vaccine. Air Force Times. Link.
Category: COVID-19 vaccine, Military issues
Good thought, but they’re going under the assumption those members WANT to come back. The government already said “fuck you” once…why would they come back?
Those fired for vax issues were afforded the opportunity to start over as if they were just any broken service retread. I’ll have to check the numbers but of the several thousand vax dischargees only a handful have opted for this, less than a dozen.
Re-instate with rank on a par with contemporaries, back pay and allowances and an expunged record MAY entice some back into the fold.
If we kick service members out for “fraudulent enlistment”, it only seems reasonable that we reinstate them after “fraudulent discharge”. I just don’t see many takers on this though.
At least it is going to be offered for them to come back. It will be up to those former service members to accept it or not.
The Clot Shot was never about control of the “virus”. It was always about control of We, The People. Change my mind…I’ll wait.
Somehow I don’t see a flood of these troops coming back. Burn me once…shame on you. Burn me twice…shame on me.
Fuck me once bad on you.
Fuck me twice bad on me.
I have an article that says on 43 of the 8,000 service members tried to get back in after the WuFlu vaccine mandates were lifted. Now that DJT is the CIC again, I wonder how many would actually want back in? The article is from 2023 during Biden Regime, so I can see why the number is so low. I don’t think bring those service members back would have much impact on the military overall. It would right-a-wrong, and allow those who want to return a do-over. I support SECDEF Pete’s proposal.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/02/politics/us-military-covid-vaccine/index.html
Good.
If they are reinstated to full rank, time and service and need less than four years to retire it may be a good idea. If they require more time and needing a GOP to win in 28, not so much