Trump Pardons Covid Convicted Army Doc
Inspiring Leadership from the Covid Kommandant
Trump Pardons Former Army Officer Convicted of Disobeying COVID-19 Safety Rules
Drew F. Lawrence
President Donald Trump on Wednesday pardoned a former junior Army officer who was found guilty in a 2022 court-martial of violating orders to comply with COVID-19 safety measures, a White House official confirmed to Military.com.
Former 1st Lt. Mark Bashaw, who served as an entomologist at the Army Public Health Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, was convicted on two counts of violating lawful orders for refusing to telework, submit a negative COVID-19 test and wear a mask indoors, part of the installation’s requirements at the time for unvaccinated service members.
The military judge who presided over the trial, Col. Robert Cohen, declined to punish Bashaw, but the former officer — who had been a noncommissioned officer in the Air Force before joining the Army — said that he was discharged from the military in 2023 following his sentencing.
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Bashaw’s case marked the first known court-martial over COVID-19 mandate violations.
Bashaw was one of the 16,000 who requested a religious waiver from the jab, the vast majority of which were denied outright. ~8200 service members were cashiered during the Covid purge, and fewer than 100 have accepted the offer of a return. Small wonder why.
Category: Big Pentagon, Bravo Zulu, COVID-19
