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Unvaccinated Navy soldiers who are still seeking religious exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine are ‘stuck in limbo’ and being forced to live in deplorable conditions on a vessel as the military refuse to let them leave the service.
The lawsuit was first filed by nonprofit First Liberty Institute in November on behalf of 35 active-duty Navy SEALs, but has since become a class-action lawsuit representing all Navy members seek religious exemptions.
There are currently 4,244 exemptions pending, according to First Liberty, and the Navy has only granted 22 permeant medical exemptions and 189 temporary ones. Almost 1,500 sailors have separated from the Navy due to the vaccine requirement, as of late July.
‘To date, the US Navy has not approved a single religious accommodation request. And it seems the Navy isn’t giving religious service members the proper legal consideration required by law,’ First Liberty Institute wrote on its website.
‘Our clients are boldly leading the fight against the vaccine mandate, but no service member should face discipline or punishment for following their faith.’
However, the Navy’s website does say it has approved 44 religious exemptions as of late July between active-duty and reserves.
An unknown number of service members are reportedly been subject to living in deplorable condition, including backed-up toilets and showers, dirty living conditions, and sewage flooding on an unknown vessel, according to the lawsuit.
Soldiers are claiming they were told they could not separate from the military due to the pending lawsuit.
There are currently 4,244 religious exemptions pending in the Navy, according to nonprofit First Liberty Institute that filed a class action lawsuit
The lawsuit is claiming that an unknown amount of soldiers are being held on vessels with backed-up toilets and showers and sewage leakage. ‘There is mold everywhere and the barge’s toilets back up and leak,’ a soldier, who was not identified said in the lawsuit
Sailors are saying worms are growing in the towel and sewage water in some of the vessels
Dirty water pools at the bottom of the shower, unable to drain
One soldier shared a photo of the sewage water backed up on the floor between the bathroom and their room
DailyMail.com has contacted the Navy and First Liberty Institute for comment.
One soldier, who was not named, said they were told they ‘could not leave the area’ after requesting to be terminated from the military due to the vaccinate requirement. He was moved to the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft berthing barge, according to Fox News.
‘Because I could not leave the area, I moved onto the berthing barge for the Eisenhower. The conditions on the barge are deplorable, much like the USS George Washington, which is anchored in the same shipyard,’ they said in the June filing, viewed by Fox News.
‘There is mold everywhere and the barge’s toilets back up and leak. The water leaks out of the base of the toilet and collects near my rack and out into the hall. On bad days, it goes into the berthings on the other side. The leaks seem to be sewage—it smells like sewage and looks like it too.’
The sailor also said there was ‘some sort of worm’ living in the toilet bowl water and on the floors where the water leaked from.
‘I have contacted mental health services multiple times,’ they said. ‘I do want—desperately—to be separated from the Navy as soon as possible, but I struggle with withdrawing my request as I feel it could signal that my religious objection was somehow not genuine, and it is.’
Another soldier claimed in the lawsuit that he was not allowed to separate from the military, despite his wife’s due date for their second child being August 2022.
‘In anticipation of my separation, my wife and I sold our house, and my wife and one-year-old son have moved to another state,’ the soldier said. ‘I have been unable to join her and my son, or to start my new job, because the Navy has told me that I am not allowed to separate from the Navy due to this lawsuit.’
A Navy technician, who has served nine years, wrote that they suffered a lower performance rating, which they claim is due to the pending exemption.
The technician regularly scored a ‘must promote’ rating throughout their prior evaluations, but in the latest one, they only scored ‘promote.’
‘This downgrade in ranking makes it appear as if my skills as a sailor have regressed. I have maintained my work throughout the year and was told during a briefing on my evaluation that the rating was not due to my performance, but my upcoming separation because of the denial of my religious accommodation,’ they wrote in sworn testimony.
In addition, they claimed the work environment was ‘extremely toxic over the vaccine issue’ and has caused them ‘stress.’
‘Because of the hardship and stress this process has brought to my family, I do not wish to be a part of the United States Navy anymore,’ they wrote.
In January, the Navy discharged 45 service members, including 23 that were active-duty.
The Navy is 97 percent vaccinated, one of the highest branches in the military
Almost 1,500 sailors have separated from the Navy due to the vaccine requirement, as of late July
In March, the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals the Navy’s request to reinstate the US Navy’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement a month after a federal judge in Fort Worth halted the mandate.
‘[Evidence] suggests that the Navy has effectively stacked the deck against even those exemptions supported by Plaintiffs’ immediate commanding officers and military chaplains,’ the three-judge panel said.
In addition, the other branches of the military are also facing similar issues with those requesting exemptions.
The Army, which has a 96 percent immunization rate, has separated from 1,500 soldiers, according to an August update.
The Army has only approved 27 permanent medical exemptions and 24 permanent religious exemptions. It has denied 971 and 1,521, respectively.
The Air Force has approved a total of 676 medical exemptions and 932 administrative, and 98 religious. It has denied 6,642 religious exemptions, as of late June.
The Marines have approved 11 religious exemptions and 545 medical and administrative exemptions, as of August.