A new report claims that only 13 U.S. Army soldiers have rejoined the military after the Pentagon implemented a policy under President Donald Trump’s administration to reinstate service members who were forced to leave the military for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine under former President Joe Biden’s administration.
According to Military.com, the Pentagon has confirmed that the Trump administration’s effort to encourage former service members to rejoin the military after being forced out over their refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccine has only resulted in 13 service members rejoining the military.
In January, Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Defense to reinstate military members who refused the COVID-19 vaccine to their former rank and to ensure that the reinstated military members received “full back pay, benefits, bonus payments, or compensation.”
Military.com reported that the military members who were forced to leave the service under the Biden administration were allowed to rejoin the military beginning in 2023; however, the Biden administration did not offer back pay or any other incentives. The outlet noted that out of over 8,000 discharged service members, only 113 chose to rejoin the military.
According to Military.com, the Pentagon implemented a policy in April in response to the president’s executive order, offering military members who were forced out of the service over the COVID-19 vaccine the opportunity to rejoin the military and receive back pay. However, the outlet noted that the Pentagon’s policy requires reinstated service members to make a four-year commitment to the military and that the back pay policy deducts any earnings the service members received after being discharged.
Addressing the reinstatement policy in a speech at the Army War College in April, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said, “We are welcoming actively back those warriors of conscience. We’ve sent letters out; we’re seeking them out. We want them back. They never should have been forced back, and we hope they come back quickly.”
The Defense Department’s “Rapid Response” social media account also released a statement in April, saying, “Thousands of our servicemembers were FIRED in the previous administration for NOT taking the experimental COVID-19 VAX…We have reinstated these vital members with BACKPAY. This is the Golden Age for our servicemembers.”
A Defense Department official told Military.com that roughly 700 former service members indicated that they were interested in rejoining the military following the implementation of the Trump administration’s reinstatement policy. However, only 97 of the individuals moved forward in the process by having their military records reviewed and corrected, and only 13 service members were reinstated in the Army by the end of May.
