The Pentagon has ordered a review the records of 8,700 U.S. military service members who were discharged after they refused the COVID-19 shot mandated for every member of the military. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is requiring each department to reevaluate the records of troops to identify who was discharged for refusing to take the controversial shot. As many as 3,000 former soldiers could be restored to honorable status.1
The reviews, which officials must identify within 30 days and be completed within one year, will take place automatically and soldiers will not be required to take any action to further this objective.2
The COVID shot mandate was implemented in August 2021and rescinded in 2023. Secretary Hegseth made it clear during his confirmation hearings that military personnel who were discharged for failing to comply with the COVID shot mandate would be reinstated, along with provision of back pay and restoration of their ranks. Discharged service members may be able to pursue reinstatement up until April 2026.3 4
In February, Hegseth wrote in a memorandum:
As we celebrate those who return to service, it is important to recognize that others face continuing injustice. It is unconscionable that thousands of former Service members who held true to their personal and religious convictions were not just separated, but separated with General (Under Honorable Conditions), rather than Honorable, discharge characterizations. While many have applied for and received relief from our Military Department review boards, I believe the onus is on us to make this right…Together, we will continue to right the wrongs of the past and restore confidence in, and honor to, our fighting force.5
Policy Guidance Overseen by Undersecretary
Undersecretary of War Anthony Tata has been tasked with providing policy guidance and directing staffing requirements to the Secretaries of the Military Departments.6 In January 2025, President Trump ordered the reinstatement of all military employees discharged for failing to take the COVID shots. However, as of November 2025, only 86 or less than one-tenth of one percent of military personnel were reinstated.
Undersecretary Tata said:
I tasked in no uncertain terms to the services that they will treat each of the members with the dignity that they deserve. There’s a lot of moving pieces, there’s a lot of good people working very hard on this,” Tata said. “We all understand the president’s executive order and the secretary’s directive, and we are moving out at full speed to welcome every single person that wants to come back from this disaffected community.7
While carrying out President Trump’s Executive Order has proved to be fraught with internal battles with the Pentagon and service branch bureaucrats, Hegseth and Tata remain committed to restoring the honor that the discharged service members deserve.
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Click here to view References:1 Williams C. Pentagon to review discharges of 8,700 troops who declined COVID vaccine. Fox5. Dec. 17, 2025.
2 MCardle, G. Evening Brief: Pentagon to Review Vaccine-Related Discharges, M23 Rebels Agree to Withdraw From Eastern Congo, Hunger Crisis Deepens in Afghanistan. SOFREP Dec. 16, 2025.
3 Ibid.
4 Korte L. Former personnel dismissed for COVID vaccine refusal may get discharge upgrades, Pentagon says. Stars and Stripes Dec. 16, 2025.
5 Secretary of War. Memorandum For Senior Pentagon Leadership. Dec. 6, 2025.
6 Fleetwood S. Hegseth Orders Review Of Discharge Characterizations For Troops Booted Over Biden’s Covid Shot Mandate. The Federalist Dec. 16, 2025.
7 Pullman J. Exclusive: War Dept. Battles Internal Resistance To Reinstate 86 Soldiers Ejected By Covid Shot Mandate. The Federalist Nov. 25, 2025.
6 Responses
I too fought with my commanders to moonlight in my professional specialty. I was forced to quit working after regular hours because of complaints of local dentist that they could not stand the competition. I learned you can not “fight city hall”. In my case the federal senators had more pull than I did.
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This story reminds me of mortgage lending. If you’re a service member, you get access to the VA GSE (government service enterprise), which means you get more borrower and lending protections than non service members whom engage mortgage lending through fannie, freddie, or hud. You get better service, superior oversight, meaningful checks and balances through the VA program. Not perfect but night and day compared to the constant pillaging and plundering most non service members deal wtih outside of VA lending systems. (veterans affairs.)
It’s good that military service members may receive some justice for having had their constitutional rights violated. (Do I really need to ask this question? I suppose so, I suppose so.) What about the rest of the general public whom had their careers derailed or destroyed, lost untold fortunes due to private and government employers violating their constitutional rights to informed consent?
What are the veterans in service to anyways? Are they ever going to fight for the rights of their fellow citizens in this country? Remember all the stories? The hundreds of thousands of health care workers coerced to taking the vaccines? The millions of students whom are now intellectually and health addled as they were coerced into taking these substances in order to have educational access? The untold volume of workers whom lost their jobs?
Don’t hold your breath. Real justice is not forthcoming. The only thing you can do is protect yourself and your family. Right now advanced technocratic systems are being deployed nationwide. We’re shifting to social credit scoring, being conditioned to constantly abide new ever restrictive forms of verification and compliance through tech systems. The concept of a vaccine passport is still very real and very active. AI systems make this exponentially worse than anticipated. Rolling out at a breathtaking pace.
Imo the lost trust in a leadership not only violating human rights and sovereignty/sanctity of the human body and spirit, pushing a rushed mRNA technology while insisting it was safe and effective on a vulnerable body of humans dependent on the wisdom and integrity of their “superiors”, demonstrates a Govt. agency willing to thin their own and go to war against their own. They even covered up the serious problems and fatalities to push “compliance”. That trust will never be regained. This is the hallmark of stupidity in this era. People who have their discernment and critical thinking to protect them against harm are our best warriors, but they most likely no longer will be willing to sacrifice their lives in a theater of deception and disregard for human life. Ironic.
I think that the general officers who implemented the forced vaccinations should be reduced in rank to LTC and retired at that pay.
I am waiting for the FG to hold accountable the individuals who perpetuated this travesty on servicemembers. I’m not holding my breath. Trust has been destroyed.
I personally hope the soldiers that were forced from the military DO NOT return. They should never have been put in that position. And, you can bet that Biden did not take the shot as they would never give an experimental anything to the President of the US. It is ludicrous to even think so. My apologies and sympathy to the discharged soldiers.