Thousands of Navy SEALs and military personnel adversely affected by President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate won a major court victory after a years-long legal battle.
The mandate, issued in August 2021, led to the forced dismissal of more than 8,000 military personnel who refused to be vaccinated on religious or medical grounds.
Navy SEALs and other special forces units have faced professional setbacks for refusing to get vaccinated, despite having their requests for religious accommodation denied multiple times.
They were discharged, denied access to training to advance in rank, and in some cases were even forced by the military to pay back their initial signing bonuses, which ranged from $4,000 to $7,000.
The SEALs and other special warfare forces were also told they would have to pay the federal government back the cost of their training — hundreds of thousands of dollars — and turn in their hard-earned “Trident” badges.
Under the settlement, which was first obtained by DailyMail.com, the records of service members who left the Navy after being “mistreated” will be corrected.
Navy SEALs and other special operators suffered professional setbacks for refusing to be vaccinated, despite having their requests for religious accommodations denied multiple times
In addition, the Navy agreed to publish a statement emphasizing the Navy’s respect for religious conscripts.
The military will provide “more training” to commanders who review requests for religious accommodations and adjust their policies.
Finally, the government will pay $1.5 million in attorney fees incurred during the nearly four-year litigation.
“It was a long and difficult journey, but the Navy SEALs never gave up,” Danielle Runyan, senior counsel at the First Liberty Institute, told DailyMail.com.
“We are very pleased that the members of the Navy who were guided by their conscience and steadfast in their faith will not be punished in their Navy careers.”
First Liberty and Hacker Stephens LLP reached a settlement on behalf of the troops that was accepted Wednesday by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth Division).
Heather Gebelin Hacker called it a “hard-fought but important victory.”
A Navy spokesman referred DailyMail.com to the Ministry of Justice for comment, but the ministry did not immediately respond.
Earlier this year, more than 200 active and retired military personnel vowed to hold the Biden administration accountable for “trampling” on their rights by enforcing the COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
More than 200 military personnel have said they will do “everything” in their power to ensure accountability, as no leader has stepped down or been held accountable despite the revocation of the vaccination mandate last year.
The mandate, issued in August 2021, led to the forced discharge of more than 8,000 military personnel who refused to be vaccinated on religious or medical grounds.
On New Year’s Day, more than 200 military personnel said they would do “everything” in their power to ensure accountability, as no leader has stepped down or been held accountable despite the revocation of the vaccination mandate.
In a letter obtained by DailyMail.com, current and former troops accuse Biden’s military leadership of “continuing to ignore” their requests to repair the “injuries and laws that were broken.”
They are even threatening to bring Biden’s top executives out of retirement so they can be court-martialed and held accountable.
“In implementing the COVID-19 vaccination mandate, military leaders have broken the law, violated constitutional rights, failed to provide consent, allowed involuntary medical experiments, and suppressed the free exercise of religion,” the letter said.
It further states that both the servicemen and their families suffered “serious injuries” and that their “suffering continues to be felt financially, emotionally and physically.”
“Some service members became part of our growing number of homeless veterans, some suffered serious vaccine injuries, and some even lost their lives,” the letter continues.
The mandate was eventually revoked in the December 2022 defense authorization law, but service members dismissed for not getting the shot were not reinstated or offered other compensation.
In the open letter they explicitly name the now retired and still serving top commanders from whom they demand accountability.
They include former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, who left the military in October, and Gen. James McConville, who served as the Army’s 40th chief of staff until 2023.
“These individuals facilitated lawlessness and unwanted experiments on military personnel,” they say.
“The moral and physical wounds they helped inflict are significant. They betrayed the trust of our military and the American people. Their actions have caused irreparable damage to the armed forces and the institutions for which we have fought and bled.”
They have “refused to step down” or take any accountability for their actions, the military said.
The letter goes on to promise that they will hold each other accountable through “lawful words and actions.”
The military has recently come under fire for trying to win back the favor of soldiers who were fired after rejecting their salary the COVID-19 vaccine for religious or medical reasonswith the offer of ‘a correction of military data’.
A Navy SEAL instructor helps Basic Underwater Demolition/SEA students
The letter sparked angry reactions from the Defense Department, lawmakers and former military personnel.
But the letter sparked outrage from the Defense Department, lawmakers and current and former military personnel, who said there was always a process for doing so.
Since the mandate, the army has also been struggling with a major shortage of recruits in the 2022 budget year: 55,000. That is 10,000 less than the target for that year.
Congress is also working to right the wrongs these service members have faced, but many soldiers told DailyMail.com that this is just the beginning.
The most recent National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), passed a year later in December 2023, includes a provision that allows former military personnel who have been discharged to change their discharge status.
However, some current and former military personnel say the changes in the NDAA for fiscal year 2024 are not strong enough to undo the “serious harassment” they have endured over the past two years.
John Frankman, who served in the Special Forces as part of the Green Berets, said the “lost career opportunities” he suffered over the past two years could never be undone by any action from Congress.
Another active-duty army officer previously told DailyMail.com that the discharged troops “have had their lives turned upside down and have been betrayed by those who were supposed to protect them.”
And a formal apology from their services would be essential to restore trust, he added.