No apologies. Many Service Members were given only general discharges vs honorable discharges. No doubt they had financial hardships, relationship issues including divorce and separation from their children. These Service Members should be compensated. Amazingly, they want you to rejoin.
The Army missed its 2022 recruiting goal by 22%.
Before asking our Service Members to re-join, they should:
Apologize. Period. Any Commander, CSM or other leader who may have belittled a Service Member for refusing the jab should be required to write an apology letter to that Service Member.
Compensate the Service Members who were removed including VA benefits for any psychological issues, stress and hardships. It took a great deal of courage to stand up for themselves at great risk and mental hardship.
They should provide Meritorious Service Medals to all who were removed.
Provide a full report on how the vaccine impacted the lives of Service Members, their spouses and their children to include all incidents of myocarditis. The truth should be told.
Provide the risk analysis used to determine if the vaccine should be used on our military and who signed it.
Only then should Service Members consider re-joining.
The Army provided the following statement:
"UPDATED MESSAGE ON COVID-19 VACCINE MANDATE RECISSION
Following guidance from the Department of Defense, the Army rescinded its original directive to separate Soldiers based solely on a refusal to receive COVID-19 vaccinations. The Secretary of the Army directed remedial actions for Soldiers who submitted an exemption request and were affected by actions taken under the original guidance, and those remedial steps are ongoing. All Army policy and procedural restrictions related to the COVID-19 vaccine have been removed. All suspension of favorable actions (flags) relating to Soldiers who made requests for exemption from the vaccine have been closed favorably, and any accompanying memoranda of reprimand for failure to comply with orders to receive the COVID-19 vaccine are being removed from Soldiers’ records.
The records of any currently serving Soldiers are being corrected to remove adverse actions stemming from requests for exemption from vaccination for COVID-19. We remain proud of the Army’s response to the pandemic and will continue to encourage vaccination against the COVID-19 variants as the surest way to ensure readiness, protect our members and guarantee mission success.
As a result of this recission of COVID-19 vaccination requirements, former Soldiers who were involuntarily separated for refusal to receive the vaccination can also request correction of their military records to reflect an honorable, voluntary separation from service.
Former Soldiers may request corrections to personnel records from the Army Discharge Review Board and/or the Army Board for the Correction of Military Records at https://actsonline.army.mil.
Those wishing to correct records regarding the characterization of discharge can submit a request to the ADRB using DD Form 293, Application for the Review of Discharge or Dismissal from the Armed Forces of the United States, available in a fillable PDF at https://www.esd.whs.mil/Directives/forms/dd0001 049/DD293/.
Soldiers needing to amend other personnel records can submit a DD From 149, Application for Correction of Military Record Under the Provisions of Title 10, U. S. Code, Section 1552 to the ABCMR. This fillable PDF can be found at https://www.esd.whs.mil/Directives/forms/dd0001 0499/DD149.
Separated Soldiers wishing to continue their service are strongly encouraged to contact their local Army recruiter (https://www.goarmy.com), Army Reserve recruiter (www.goarmyreserve.com), or Army National Guard recruiter (https://nationalguard.com/get-started) for additional information on returning to service.
Our nation faces many challenges, and developing and employing the skills and talents of prior service members can benefit individual Soldiers and the Army."
Army rescinds COVID-19 vaccination requirements
If you know someone who was booted out. Share this with them so that they can reclaim their deserved honor.
Overall the biggest disappointment is how they treated combat Veterans with multiple combat tours who served with honor. Many children of Veterans sign up for our military. I don’t know any Veterans who would encourage their children to join today based on the current wokeism and treatment of our Service Members over this vaccine. Recruitment isn’t going to get better. Ask Bug Light.