The Trump administration reinstated service members earlier this week who were previously discharged as a result of the military’s COVID-19 vaccination mandates.
More than 8,000 servicemembers were kicked out of the U.S. military following a 2021 COVID-19 vaccination policy that required everyone within the Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Defense (DoD) receive a dose of the experimental drug. Many of those troops cited religious and personal reasons for their refusal, but were still discharged, according to the Washington Stand.
In an Executive Order posted on Monday, Trump wrote that the “vaccine mandate was an unfair, overbroad, and completely unnecessary burden on our service members.” It is also believed that Trump is working to get “full back pay for each servicemember that was discharged,” another outlet noted.
Keeping To Promises
Trump said during his inaugural address that he would “reinstate any servicemembers who were unjustly expelled from our military for objecting to the COVID vaccine mandate, with full back pay.”
That promise has at least come true in-part with this latest ruling. “Further, the military unjustly discharged those who refused the vaccine, regardless of the years of service given to our Nation, after failing to grant many of them an exemption that they should have received. Federal Government redress of any wrongful dismissals is overdue,” he added in the EO.
Other Military-Related Orders
On the same day, Trump also ordered an Iron Dome for America, similar to that used by Israel to protect from attack by “ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles, and other advanced aerial attacks.”
He further removed those who claim to be “transgender” from service, citing a longstanding DoD policy that servicemembers are ““[f]ree of medical conditions or physical defects that may reasonably be expected to require excessive time lost from duty for necessary treatment or hospitalization.”
“For the sake of our Nation and the patriotic Americans who volunteer to serve it, military service must be reserved for those mentally and physically fit for duty. The Armed Forces must adhere to high mental and physical health standards to ensure our military can deploy, fight, and win, including in austere conditions and without the benefit of routine medical treatment or special provisions,” the order added.
Finally, Trump reinstated a meritocracy-based approach wherein no “individual or group within our Armed Forces should be preferred or disadvantaged on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, color, or creed.”
“President Trump has delivered on yet another of his campaign promises. His executive order will restore the American people’s faith and confidence in our military by offering the opportunity for those who were unfairly and improperly discharged to return to military service. Along with Secretary of Defense [Pete] Hegseth, President Trump is taking bold, decisive steps to make our military great again,” Center for Litigation at the America First Policy Institute executive director Michael Berry told the Washington Stand.
