Military Starts Reenlisting Troops Ousted for Refusing COVID-19 Vaccine

The reenlistments are happening under an executive order from Trump.

A member of the U.S. Navy receives a COVID-19 vaccine at U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys in South Korea on Dec. 29, 2020. Spc. Erin Conway/U.S. Army

Military officials say they’ve started bringing back troops who were removed from the force over their refusal to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

Three active-duty soldiers have been brought back in recent weeks, Christopher Surridge, a spokesperson for the Army, told The Epoch Times in an April 10 email.

More than 100 other former service members are in the process of reenlisting, Surridge added.

President Donald Trump in late January signed an order that called the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate unfair and overbroad.

“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,” Trump wrote at the time.

He directed military officials to offer reinstatement to all members removed over COVID-19 vaccine refusal. The former members should be reinstated to their former rank and receive “full back pay, benefits, bonus payments, or compensation,” according to the order.

Surridge said that the soldiers who have been reenlisted have not yet received back pay because the agencies involved “are still working to verify compensation packages.”

Other branches said they had not yet brought back any troops or did not have information to provide.

“Since the process was approved on Monday morning, no Marines have been reinstated under the new pathway, as the process is still in its early stages,” a spokesperson for the Marines told The Epoch Times in an email.

Some 40 Marines have completed the initial questionnaire, which is the first step in the reenlistment process, and officials expect that number to grow in the coming weeks.

A Navy spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the process has just started.

An Air Force spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email that the branch had no information on the matter.

The Pentagon, in an email to The Epoch Times, referred questions on how many troops have reenlisted to the branches.

In reinstatement guidance dated April 1, the Pentagon said that departments will start outreach to former troops eligible for reenlistment, including through mailed letters. The guidance says the individuals must reenlist for four years to take advantage of the opportunity.

The Navy said in an April 8 statement announcing outreach has started that former sailors interested in rejoining the Navy should contact their local recruiting office to request reinstatement.

“Applicants are required to meet all current retention standards and submit a sworn, written statement confirming they voluntarily left the service or allowed their service to lapse due to the vaccine mandate,” the statement said.

The Army, Marines, and Air Force have also set up webpages with information on how to reenlist.

Sean Parnell, a spokesperson for the Pentagon, said on the social media platform X that the Department of Defense is “committed to doing right by those who were affected by the Department’s former COVID-19 vaccination policy.”

He said that outreach to the former members who were removed over the mandate was to ensure they had clear information on how to pursue reinstatement.

“They have until February 7, 2026, to pursue reinstatement, and we’re working hard to make sure each of them receives clear information and support throughout the process,” he said. “Their service mattered then, and it still matters now. We’re ready to welcome them back!”

The military announced the mandate in August 2021, after federal regulators approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.

The mandate included religious and medical exemptions, but some courts found that military officials violated federal law in processing exemption requests. An inspector general also determined that multiple branches violated internal rules in handling requests for exemptions.

The military rescinded the mandate in 2023, obeying a bill passed by Congress.

Most troops took a COVID-19 vaccine, but the military ended up removing about 8,700 members over COVID-19 vaccine refusal.

Troops have been able to rejoin the military since 2023 but were not guaranteed back pay. The White House said in January that 43 members discharged over the vaccine mandate had rejoined before Trump’s executive order.