Current and former US military personnel tell DailyMail.com that Republicans’ proposed changes to next year’s defense spending bill may not be comprehensive enough to undo the “severe harassment” they have endured from strict COVID -19 vaccination mandate from the Biden administration.
More than 8,000 military personnel – many seeking religious exemptions – were fired for refusing to comply with the Pentagon’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate issued in August 2021. , but it did not reinstate service members who had been fired for not getting the shot, nor did it offer any other compensation.
Now, new amendments from Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., passed last week by the House Armed Services Committee, would “provide reparations” for military personnel who were “unjustly discharged” by requiring the Pentagon to establish a reassignment process and ensure that there is no negative retaliation.
However, current and former troops say the changes that would be included in the FY 2024 NDAA are not strong enough to reverse the “severe harassment” they have endured over the past two years.
The Pentagon, with the support of military leaders and US President Joe Biden, has mandated COVID-19 vaccination for all military service members
“I’m glad Congress is pushing for military service to be reinstated, but it’s not enough,” said John Frankman, a U.S. Army captain who will be formally discharged from the military on July 1.
Frankman, who was in the Special Forces as part of the Green Berets, said the “missed career opportunities” he endured over the past two years can never be undone by any action by Congress.
He even said before the mandate that 10 of his team’s 12 chose not to get the vaccine when he served as the commander of a special forces detachment and important training was taken away from them.
When the vaccine mandate went into effect in August 2021, he submitted a request for religious accommodation, but the military did not respond for more than a full year.
During that time, he and other unvaccinated special forces could not be deployed, temporarily commissioned (TDY), or permanently changed stations (PCS).
“It cut my team time and prevented me from attending career-advancing schools,” he told DailyMail.com. He cited his “biggest setback” as not being able to attend high school.
“Even when the mandate was withdrawn, I called USMA and Human Resource Command, but I was unable to recoup these losses,” he continued.
These measures are good, but not enough. They only relate to those who have been kicked out, but do not address the hardships faced by those who never left but were deliberately kept in the dark,” Frankman told DailyMail.com.
“The amendments will not make up for the missed career opportunities” that many troops endured, including not being able to deploy or receive the necessary training to rise in the ranks of the military.
“They also won’t make up for the negative stigma many in the military, especially their leaders, may have for them for breaking a rule they’ve so vehemently pushed for,” he continued.
“It’s also not strong enough to bring people back in after they’ve been divorced. Many have experienced serious bullying.”
Another dismissed service member told DailyMail.com that “accountability is necessary to restore trust.”
“Until confidence is restored, military preparedness will continue to bleed and decay,” he continued.
In addition, military personnel have told DailyMail.com that the military is making it extremely difficult for discharged troops to reapply through the normal process to regain their former positions due to a two-year delay in changing their discharge status from “general ‘. ‘ to ‘honourable’ to start the process.
The Banks’ office says their amendments require the Secretary of Defense to prioritize vaccine resisters’ request to have their discharge status changed so that the wait time will be significantly reduced.
Active duty Coast Guard Lieutenant Chad Coppin — who is currently stationed in Juneau, Alaska — said he is particularly concerned about the fate of the USCG.
Too bad USCG, Title 14 is not considered a ‘covered armed force’, which we should be. Rep. Banks should know that the USCG absolutely must be involved in these efforts. Like the DoD services, we were wronged, to leave the USCG out of this would be a slap in the face to all of us.”
Coppin was nearly kicked out of the military, but after the NDAA was signed he was able to remain on active duty.
Banks, chairman of the House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Military Personnel, last week praised the passage of the series of amendments that will provide “reparation” to those “unjustly fired.”
A spokesman for Banks’ office said the USCG will be included in the final version of the bill through a floor amendment after it is approved by the House Rules Committee.
Because the Transport and Infrastructure and Homeland Security Committees have jurisdiction over the Coast Guard — a branch under the Department of Homeland Security, not the Pentagon — the Armed Services Committee would need to obtain waivers to include the branch in the markup process.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issued a sweeping COVID vaccine mandate in August 2021
Staff Sergeant Travis Snyder, left, receives first dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine
Another former Coast Guardsman Christopher Collins, who served 11.5 years before also being fired last November, told DailyMail.com that the changes are a “bare minimum.”
“Aside from the fact that the USCG isn’t even covered by this, and has probably been the most abused during the COVID ordeal, it does nothing to require the structural change needed to prevent this from happening again,” he said. Collins.
“I was personally given 30 days notice, deprived of vacation days, not given a chance to do transition training, and fired while still on parental leave, with pending medical issues that made finding work nearly impossible.”
First Liberty Institute, which represents a group of Navy SEALs in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals — the only case still pending since the NDAA became law in 2023 — says Congressional efforts to resolve the issues raised by the government Biden have been fueled is critical.
First Liberty’s Senior Counsel and Director of Military Affairs Mike Berry told DailyMail.com that the NDAA amendments are “necessary steps toward recovery.”
“We are grateful to Congressman Banks for his continued leadership on this issue. The DOD’s Covid vaccine mandate created a harmful culture of religious hostility and left deep scars that will take years to heal,” Berry said.
“These NDAA amendments are necessary steps towards recovery. Hopefully the Pentagon will learn that it is far more important for our military to faithfully follow the Constitution than to blindly follow dubious orders.”
President Biden and Sec. Lloyd Astin shakes hands in the White House
A current active-duty military officer told DailyMail.com that another issue Congress should look into is the fact that the Pentagon has never purchased a “fully licensed” vaccine required by the agency in the Sec. Lloyd Austin memo on the Mandate.
While he appreciates Banks’ efforts, he says they need to be expanded.
There won’t be a perfect cure, but Congress should at least authorize discharged service members to have their “discharge characteristics” improved, have their educational benefits reinstated, and receive involuntary severance pay and/or retire at their rank and years of operating the exit,” the officer told DailyMail.com.
He said the discharged troops “have had their lives turned upside down and have been betrayed by those who were supposed to protect them.”
Finally, a formal apology from their service departments would be key to rebuilding trust, he added.