The reenlistments are happening under an executive order from Trump.
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.
