Unvaccinated soldiers forced to repay signing bonuses to Biden administration
The Biden administration continues to pursue unvaccinated service members for their refusal to receive the COVID-19 injections, most recently by forcing them to pay back their recruitment bonuses.
The Department of Defense (DoD) last week was forced to rescind its vaccine mandate after House Republicans negotiated an end to the mandate in the National Defense Authorization Act. Republican attempts to add a clause in the NDAA to reinstate the over-8,000 unvaccinated members who were discharged, with backpay, were voted down. To date, the Army has booted 1,841 service members, the Navy 2,032 and the Marine Corps 3,717 over their health choice.
But in the absence of a mandate, the Biden administration has found other punitive measures to inflict on unvaccinated soldiers. The Pentagon has signaled it will not provide backpay to those discharged for their vaccination status, may not rehire them altogether, and now is demanding they repay their sign-on bonuses.
One Army soldier who received a $7,000 signing bonus and was fired for refusing the shots in May must now pay back a pro-rated $4,000 to the Biden administration for failing to complete his six-year commitment. The soldier was forced to sell 60 of his vacation days to come up with the money.
"I've deployed multiple times, and I feel like the last thing I had was selling leave days that I earned and was never able to take due to me being deployed or needing that time to prepare for the training cycle,” the serviceman told Fox News Digital. “I was about to enter a new world with no income, and that extra bit would have been a nice buffer in my rainy day fund to keep me afloat until I was able to find new employment.”
He added that his treatment by the US military over his vaccination status has taken a negative toll on his emotional health.
"The appalling treatment these individuals endured broke the trust that is owed to our citizens and our volunteers. America’s sons and daughters," another serviceman said. "Until true efforts are made to establish trust, the recruiting and retention shortfalls will only continue. The individuals who make public statements that they are unsure what has contributed to the current recruiting and retention shortfalls need to take a look in the mirror; and perhaps they should resign for the betterment of our Nation."
In a memo this month rescinding his original vaccine mandate from August 21, 2021, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that unvaccinated service members who “sought an accommodation on religious, administrative or medical grounds” would not be separated from the Armed Forces and would have any adverse actions taken against them, including letters of reprimand, reversed.
But the memo continued to say that those soldiers may still be kept from deployment or assignments based on their vaccination status.
“Other standing Departmental policies, procedures, and processes regarding immunizations remain in full effect,” wrote Austin. “These include the ability of commanders to consider, as appropriate, the individual immunization status of personnel in making deployment, assignment, and other operational decisions, including when vaccination is required for travel to, or entry into, a foreign nation.”
Frontline News previously reported the Navy’s refusal to deploy 35 Navy SEALs who refused the shots, as well as a destroyer commanded by an unvaccinated officer. The Air Force has also been grounding pilots who have refused the COVID-19 injections. Nothing in the NDAA requires military brass to allow soldiers to do their jobs.
