by John Frankman, Breitbart:
Last month, the Army sent a letter to thousands of soldiers who were discharged for refusing to comply with the COVID-19 shot mandate.
The letter states that, “as a result of the rescission of all current COVID-19 vaccination requirements, former soldiers who were involuntarily separated for refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccination may request a correction of their military records.”
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It also states that, “individuals who desire to apply to return to service should contact their local… recruiter.”
A copy of the letter the U.S. Army sent to service members discharged for refusing the COVID shot.
A Destructive Policy the Army Is “Proud of”
The letter itself offers no actual policy change, but rather reiterates policies the Army issued back in March 2023. It does not describe any new process in place since then for soldiers to return, other than directing them to their local recruiter.
More importantly, there is no actual apology to these soldiers. In fact, it is quite the opposite. The Army, on its Human Resource Command website, states with regard to the new guidance that:
We remain proud of the Army’s response to the pandemic and will continue to encourage vaccination against the COVID-19 variants as the surest way to ensure readiness, protect our members and guarantee mission success.
This is absurd.
These policies that the Army is “proud of” led them to kick out around 2,000 soldiers, mistreat many others, deny soldiers’ their First Amendment religious freedoms, coerce them to take what lawyers have argued was an experimental drug that potentially left many injured by the vaccine, ignore basic common sense, and threaten and often destroy the livelihoods of the soldiers who volunteered to defend this nation and the Constitution even with their lives.
Because of a massive recruiting crisis that is keeping the Army from substantially reaching its recruiting goals, Army leadership sent this letter to bring soldiers discharged for the vaccine mandate back into service as a small attempt to stop the bleeding. And just like many may have followed COVID policy for expediency in career progression, it is possible that this letter is a feigned attempt to “do something” about the recruiting fiasco.
So, where does this leave the Army and what effect will this letter have on bringing service members back, alleviating the recruiting crisis, fixing retention, and improving readiness?
Why This Letter Won’t Work
To understand why this letter is ineffectual requires one to understand just how difficult it was for service members who, for a variety of reasons, did not want to receive the COVID-19 shot. Department of Defense (DoD) leadership were so hell-bent on getting every service member fully vaxxed that they threatened and destroyed the livelihoods of thousands and used whatever methods at their disposal to force compliance.
The unvaccinated were often forced to wear masks while those vaccinated did not, were not allowed to use gyms during certain hours designated only for the vaccinated, and were subjected to weekly invasive COVID tests. These individuals were at times put in quarantine for extended periods and not allowed to leave their barracks or ships. In some training environments, unvaccinated soldiers were required to wear red wrist bands that said “unvaccinated” and red tape on their gear to indicate that they were somehow unclean.
These tactics and policies pitted service members against one another when it is vital that service members have each other’s backs in times of war.
And even if your own unit didn’t participate in these shenanigans, policies from the DoD made it extremely difficult for the unvaccinated to progress in their careers. Those with a pending religious exemption could not deploy, travel for work or to career enhancing schools, or move from one base to another without permission from the undersecretary of the Army and only then when such travel was deemed “mission critical.” These policies seemed crafted to punish the unvaccinated.
