Army Letter Invites Soldiers Discharged for COVID-19 Vaccine Refusal to Return to Service
Amid record low military recruitment numbers, the U.S. Army has sent a letter to former military members informing them that they can now rejoin the Army and request a correction to their military record if they were involuntarily discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
The letter first shared on the social media platform X on November 16 was addressed to “Former service members” and discussed the new Army guidance surrounding the correction of military records and the reiteration that the COVID-19 vaccine is no longer required to join the military.
“We write to notify you of new Army guidance regarding the correction of military records for former members of the Army following the rescission of the COVID-19 vaccination requirement,” the letter began, “former Soldiers who were involuntarily separated for refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccination may request a correction of their military records.”
The letter then went on to advise former service members to contact their local recruiter if they were interested in applying to “return to service.” Many praised this move as a win for medical freedom after Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin made COVID-19 vaccination a requirement for service personnel back in 2021.
John Frankman, a former Army Special Forces member, took to X to share his thoughts on the recent letter reminding people what the government initially put military members through during the COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
“The military kicked out over 8,000 service members,” Frankman began, “service members who were kicked out, they were treated terribly, many of them were not able to eat and enter the dining facility where vaccinated service members went to, they were forced to mask when others weren’t, they couldn’t go into the gym,” he explained.
Frankman said that he was required to wear a red wristband, informing everyone around him that he was unvaccinated. He and many others who refused the vaccine were made ineligible for deployment. Frankman shared that other military member’s careers and livelihoods were destroyed and there has been no accountability since. He criticized the letter, insisting that Department of Defense (DoD) officials are still “not admitting they were wrong.”
Those who initially refused to comply were threatened with a dishonorable discharge. However, most members were given a general, under-than-honorable conditions discharge for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
The DoD rescinded the COVID-19 vaccine mandate back in January of this year after significant Congressional pressure to do so; however, many are pointing to the Army’s recent offer to correct military records as a sign of the military’s struggle to enlist new recruits.
This past year the US saw its worst military recruitment outcome since 1999, with only the Marine Corps and Space Force reaching their recruiting goals for 2023. The Army, Airforce, and Navy all fell short of their recruitment numbers despite progressive and relaxed enlistment requirements, such as relaxing prior tattoo and drug-testing policies and record-high financial incentives.
