Late Monday evening, President Donald Trump fulfilled a promise and signed an executive order[1] that he said would reinstate troops who were discharged over the COVID-19 vaccine mandate -- but much of what is in the order was already in effect, while the rest left more questions than answers.
The heart of the order is a direction to the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security to allow reinstatement of vaccine refusers. However, the thousands who were forced out have been allowed to return since 2023, but only a scant few have taken the military up on the opportunity.
The order's key addition is a broadly articulated promise of back pay. However, the order doesn't explain whether there will be conditions or service obligations that come with the benefit, while seemingly providing no way for the services to pay for the potential spike in troop salaries should thousands of new recruits need years of pay in the coming months.
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When asked about the order or how someone interested in taking advantage of its promises should proceed, Pentagon officials were unable to offer details beyond a statement saying they "will fully execute and implement all directives outlined in the executive orders issued by the president" and "provide status updates as we are able."
According to data from each of the military services provided to Military.com last week, the Pentagon ultimately separated about 8,200 service members over a refusal to follow a lawful order and receive a COVID-19 vaccination.
The vast majority of those individuals objected to the vaccine on religious grounds[3] and filed requests for religious exemptions that were overwhelmingly rejected by military leaders. There were a variety of[4] legal challenges filed[5] over the mandate, and it was ultimately repealed in 2023 when Congress forced it to be rescinded[6] in that year's massive defense policy bill.
A total of 690 service members, dependents and civilian Defense Department employees died from COVID-19 between the start of the pandemic in early 2020 and Dec. 8, 2022, the date the DoD stopped publishing updates of its COVID-related deaths.
From 2023 to the present day, only 113 of the more than 8,000 discharged service members have chosen to return to military service. According to data provided by the services, 73 soldiers, 25 Marines, 13 airmen or Guardians, and two sailors have come back.
While Trump's order also dictated that service members should be reinstated to their former rank, that is already typical for prior service civilians who rejoin the military.
Meanwhile, the key new tenant of the order -- the direction that returning troops "receive full back pay, benefits, bonus payments or compensation" -- goes unexplained in the text published by the White House on Monday night.
The order also appears to allow any service member to simply "provide a written and sworn attestation that they voluntarily left the service or allowed their service to lapse" over the vaccine and they will be allowed to return "with no impact on their service status, rank or pay."
Neither the order nor Pentagon officials said whether people in that category would be eligible for back pay. Without that element, the promise seems to largely describe the existing ability to reenlist after having previously served, though with a firmer promise on the terms of reentry.
Furthermore, the order notes that the services will be making good on the back pay promise while still being "subject to the availability of appropriations," meaning that there will be no new money on the table to pay for the back pay, benefits or bonuses.
As president, Trump has limited ability to provide extra funding to the agencies he oversees. That power is reserved for Congress by the Constitution.
However, during his first term in office, he controversially moved money already given by Congress from one agency to another when he took billions of dollars from the Pentagon's coffers[7] to fund construction of a barrier wall at the southern border.
In the wake of the order's announcement, former military members -- many of whom claim they left or were forced out over the vaccine mandate -- took to social media to say that, even despite the promise of back pay, they would not be returning.
A former Army[8] captain and Green Beret who left the service over the vaccine told Task and Purpose on Tuesday[9] that he wasn't considering returning because "God is guiding me elsewhere at this time."
Ivan Raiklin, a former Green Beret and lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve[10], said that "until this 'reinstatement' order is amended to punish all involved ... I don't expect anyone to return to the military," in a social media post Tuesday[11].
"If they do, they are absolute sellouts that aren't to be trusted to defend the Constitution," he added.
Other former service members who have become semi-public figures as part of their fight over the vaccine mandate, as well as other more anonymous individuals,[12] echoed that sentiment in blog posts[13] and posts to social media[14].
The COVID-19 pandemic, with an estimated 7 million deaths[15] internationally and estimates that range from double to four times that from indirect causes[16], is considered one of the worst worldwide calamities of the 21st century, and it was one of the deadliest global events since the Spanish Flu a century ago and World War II.
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