Hegseth Orders Additional Guidance To Reenlist Troops Booted Over Biden’s ‘Unlawful’ Covid Shot Mandate
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum on Wednesday ordering additional guidance be provided to Pentagon officials to fast-track the reenlistment of troops forced out due to the service’s Biden-era Covid shot mandate.
“We’re doing everything we can, as quickly as we can, to reinstate those who were affected by that policy,” Hegseth said in a video message announcing the new directives.
The Wednesday memo directs the Pentagon’s under secretary for personnel and readiness “to provide additional guidance to the Military Department Review Boards concerning the review of requests from Service members and former Service members adversely impacted by the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.”
The goal of these new instructions, according to the directive, is to “facilitate, as appropriate, the removal of adverse actions based solely on refusal to take the COVID-19 vaccine (or requesting a medical or religious/administrative accommodation), discharge upgrades for individuals involuntarily separated solely for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine whose service was characterized as less than fully honorable, and appropriate remedies for Service members who suffered a wide variety of other career setbacks resulting from their principled refusal to take the COVID-19 vaccine.”
The “unfair, overbroad, and unnecessary” Covid jab mandate was announced by Biden Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in August 2021. While it was ultimately repealed following an act of Congress in early 2023, the damage was already done. More than 8,700 service members were effectively forced out of the military after forgoing the experimental shot. (Read more from “Hegseth Orders Additional Guidance To Reenlist Troops Booted Over Biden’s ‘Unlawful’ Covid Shot Mandate” HERE)
