The order directs the military to reinstate troops who were removed because they did not comply with the government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
President Donald Trump on Jan. 27 signed an order that paves the way for troops discharged for refusing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine to rejoin the U.S. military, with full back pay.
Those former military members can request to be reinstated and will revert to their former rank and receive full back pay, benefits, bonus payments, or compensation, according to the order.
“The vaccine mandate was an unfair, overbroad, and completely unnecessary burden on our service members,” it stated. “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.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is requested to update Trump on the progress of the order within 60 days.
Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon earlier on Monday that the Pentagon would execute Trump’s orders that pertain to the military “swiftly and without excuse.”
He also said that officials support the order to reinstate troops removed due to the Department of Defense’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Hegseth has said previously that the military would apologize to the former members.
In 2021, President Joe Biden directed the military to impose the vaccination requirements. The mandate required troops to receive a COVID-19 vaccine if they were not given an exemption on medical, religious, or other grounds.
The military discharged more than 8,000 members who declined to receive a vaccine after their exemption requests were denied, according to the White House.
Adhering to a bill passed by Congress and signed by Biden, the military rescinded the mandate in 2023. Congress never required the military to reinstate members discharged over COVID-19 vaccine refusal.
Courts have found military officials violated federal law in processing exemption requests, and an inspector general determined that multiple branches violated internal rules in handling requests for exemptions.
Moments after being sworn into office on Jan. 20, Trump said that former members of the military who refused the COVID-19 vaccine would be reinstated.
“I will reinstate any service members who were unjustly expelled from our military for objecting to the COVID vaccine mandate with full back pay,” Trump said at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Just 43 of the members discharged over the vaccine mandate have since returned to the military, according to the White House.
