A Medical Technician injects a COVID-19 booster into a patient at an undisclosed location, Southwest Asia, Oct. 20, 2022. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Jeffery Foster)

The Pentagon, acting on orders from President Donald Trump, has begun to lay out the details of its plan to woo back thousands of service members who were involuntarily discharged over their refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.

Tim Dill, the Pentagon's current head of Personnel and Readiness, said Tuesday that both Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have shared their "eagerness to welcome back these former service members to the military."

Troops who were booted over refusing the vaccines have been able to return to service since 2023, though just over 100 out of more than 8,000 did so. But the new policies, which come a few months after an executive order issued by Trump, offer the promise of back pay[1] and an easier medical screening -- though with a caveat of yearslong military commitments and some major administrative hurdles.

Read Next: Toxic Exposure at Domestic Military Bases Is Next Step After PACT Act, Democratic Lawmakers Say[2]

According to Dill, who spoke with reporters, both Trump and Hegseth "have publicly expressed and signed documents welcoming former service members impacted by this policy to return in a way that those former service members were not encouraged in the past."

The highlight of the new policies is mainly an opportunity for a returning service member to receive back pay for the time that they were out of the service. However, Dill noted that the idea behind the policy was not to offer a bonus or benefit but rather make the person "stand financially in the same position they would have stood in had they never been discharged."

Most of the services were quick to push out messages on social media announcing the new policy[3] offering the possibility of back pay, and the Army[4] even bragged that "about 150 soldiers"[5] had taken some step toward rejoining.

However, only the Navy[6] publicly offered insight[7] into how that process would work.

According to Navy documents made public Monday[8], a sailor interested in being reinstated is entitled to back pay but minus anything they've earned while out of the military -- and that is contingent on a four-year commitment[9].

The document explains that what leaders like Trump have called "full back pay" will actually be a "financial benefit" that will consider all the basic pay, food and housing allowances, and bonuses to come up with a sum.

Then, the service will deduct from that figure any wages that were earned by the service member while they were separated, as well as any VA disability payments[10], among other payouts.

All of the information would come from tax documents and pay stubs that would need to be submitted as part of the process, the Navy document said.

The resulting figure -- one that will vary widely from person to person -- would then be offered to the service member ahead of their decision to return or not. It would be paid out in a lump sum or quarterly payments but be subject to federal and state taxes.

Meanwhile, service members interested in returning under the new policy should have an easier time passing the medical screening, which, according to Dill, would hold them to the easier "retention" standard instead of the normal "accession" one.

"Initial accession ... that is the highest medical requirement, because that is the department's first take at assessing whether or not this is someone in whom the department wishes to invest significant time and resources," Dill said.

However, the retention standard acknowledges a previous investment of time and resources and simply looks to determine whether a service member is "suitable to continue in service."

"We've long used two different thresholds for those timings," Dill added.

While the new policy appears to add more incentive for some troops to return, it's not clear how much of an effect it will make on people who have now been out of the military for years and may have been using the vaccine as an opportunity to simply leave the service early.

From 2023 to shortly before Trump signed the executive order, only 113 of the more than 8,000 involuntarily discharged service members had 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.

Since the order, when the possibility of back pay was raised but not caveated by other conditions or administrative burdens, those figures don't appear to have increased significantly.

The Associated Press reported that the Army has reenlisted more than 23 soldiers[11] in that period -- all but three people rejoined either the National Guard[12] or the Army Reserve.

On Tuesday, Capt. Candice Tresch said that the Navy's number of returnees, which includes reservists, had grown to 10 -- just 8 more since Trump took office.

The Marine Corps[13] told Military.com that, while 40 Marines have completed the initial questionnaire -- the first step in the reinstatement or reaccession process, so far none has actually been reinstated.

Meanwhile, Dill said that the first group of just over 100 service members, who returned without any incentive, will not be able to benefit from the new back pay policy.

"The department is also grateful for their decision to return," he said but added that "there is not currently a mechanism that we have provided for them to put in for the same calculations that we're doing for those that would return today."

Anyone interested in returning has until April 1, 2026, to seek reinstatement.

-- Drew F. Lawrence contributed to this report.

Related: Trump Order on Back Pay for Vaccine Refusers Raises Questions, Offers No Clear Path Forward[14]

© Copyright 2025 Military.com. All rights reserved. This article may not be republished, rebroadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Military.com, please submit your request here[15].

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A Medical Technician injects a COVID-19 booster into a patient at an undisclosed location, Southwest Asia, Oct. 20, 2022. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Jeffery Foster)

The Pentagon, acting on orders from President Donald Trump, has begun to lay out the details of its plan to woo back thousands of service members who were involuntarily discharged over their refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.

Tim Dill, the Pentagon's current head of Personnel and Readiness, said Tuesday that both Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have shared their "eagerness to welcome back these former service members to the military."

Troops who were booted over refusing the vaccines have been able to return to service since 2023, though just over 100 out of more than 8,000 did so. But the new policies, which come a few months after an executive order issued by Trump, offer the promise of back pay[1] and an easier medical screening -- though with a caveat of yearslong military commitments and some major administrative hurdles.

Read Next: Toxic Exposure at Domestic Military Bases Is Next Step After PACT Act, Democratic Lawmakers Say[2]

According to Dill, who spoke with reporters, both Trump and Hegseth "have publicly expressed and signed documents welcoming former service members impacted by this policy to return in a way that those former service members were not encouraged in the past."

The highlight of the new policies is mainly an opportunity for a returning service member to receive back pay for the time that they were out of the service. However, Dill noted that the idea behind the policy was not to offer a bonus or benefit but rather make the person "stand financially in the same position they would have stood in had they never been discharged."

Most of the services were quick to push out messages on social media announcing the new policy[3] offering the possibility of back pay, and the Army[4] even bragged that "about 150 soldiers"[5] had taken some step toward rejoining.

However, only the Navy[6] publicly offered insight[7] into how that process would work.

According to Navy documents made public Monday[8], a sailor interested in being reinstated is entitled to back pay but minus anything they've earned while out of the military -- and that is contingent on a four-year commitment[9].

The document explains that what leaders like Trump have called "full back pay" will actually be a "financial benefit" that will consider all the basic pay, food and housing allowances, and bonuses to come up with a sum.

Then, the service will deduct from that figure any wages that were earned by the service member while they were separated, as well as any VA disability payments[10], among other payouts.

All of the information would come from tax documents and pay stubs that would need to be submitted as part of the process, the Navy document said.

The resulting figure -- one that will vary widely from person to person -- would then be offered to the service member ahead of their decision to return or not. It would be paid out in a lump sum or quarterly payments but be subject to federal and state taxes.

Meanwhile, service members interested in returning under the new policy should have an easier time passing the medical screening, which, according to Dill, would hold them to the easier "retention" standard instead of the normal "accession" one.

"Initial accession ... that is the highest medical requirement, because that is the department's first take at assessing whether or not this is someone in whom the department wishes to invest significant time and resources," Dill said.

However, the retention standard acknowledges a previous investment of time and resources and simply looks to determine whether a service member is "suitable to continue in service."

"We've long used two different thresholds for those timings," Dill added.

While the new policy appears to add more incentive for some troops to return, it's not clear how much of an effect it will make on people who have now been out of the military for years and may have been using the vaccine as an opportunity to simply leave the service early.

From 2023 to shortly before Trump signed the executive order, only 113 of the more than 8,000 involuntarily discharged service members had 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.

Since the order, when the possibility of back pay was raised but not caveated by other conditions or administrative burdens, those figures don't appear to have increased significantly.

The Associated Press reported that the Army has reenlisted more than 23 soldiers[11] in that period -- all but three people rejoined either the National Guard[12] or the Army Reserve.

On Tuesday, Capt. Candice Tresch said that the Navy's number of returnees, which includes reservists, had grown to 10 -- just 8 more since Trump took office.

The Marine Corps[13] told Military.com that, while 40 Marines have completed the initial questionnaire -- the first step in the reinstatement or reaccession process, so far none has actually been reinstated.

Meanwhile, Dill said that the first group of just over 100 service members, who returned without any incentive, will not be able to benefit from the new back pay policy.

"The department is also grateful for their decision to return," he said but added that "there is not currently a mechanism that we have provided for them to put in for the same calculations that we're doing for those that would return today."

Anyone interested in returning has until April 1, 2026, to seek reinstatement.

-- Drew F. Lawrence contributed to this report.

Related: Trump Order on Back Pay for Vaccine Refusers Raises Questions, Offers No Clear Path Forward[14]

© Copyright 2025 Military.com. All rights reserved. This article may not be republished, rebroadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Military.com, please submit your request here[15].

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U.S. Defense Secretary Hegseth speaks with U.S. troops in Panama

Associated Press | By Juan Zamorano

Published

PANAMA CITY — U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth[1] credited Panama President José Raúl Mulino on Tuesday with improving security cooperation between their nations after the two men met.

Hegseth did not comment as he left the meeting to head to a ribbon cutting for a new U.S.-financed dock on a former U.S. base, but posted a photo of the two men laughing to X.

Hegseth wrote that it was an honor speaking with Mulino.

“You and your country’s hard work is making a difference. Increased security cooperation will make both our nations safer, stronger and more prosperous,” he wrote.

The meeting comes amid tensions over U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated assertions that the United States is being overcharged to use the Panama Canal and that China has influence over its operations. Panama has denied those allegations.[2]

After Hegseth and Mulino spoke by phone in February, the U.S. State Department published on X that an agreement had been reached to not charge U.S. warships to pass through the canal. Mulino publicly denied there was any such deal[3].

Trump has gone so far as to suggest the U.S. never should have turned the canal over to Panama and that maybe the U.S. should take it back.[4]

The China concern was provoked by a Hong Kong consortium holding a 25-year lease on ports at either end of the canal. The Panamanian government announced that lease was being audited and late Monday concluded that there were irregularities.

The Hong Kong consortium, however, had already announced that CK Hutchison would be selling its controlling stake in the ports to a consortium including BlackRock Inc., effectively putting the ports under American control once the sale is complete.

In February, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited[5] and told Mulino that Trump believed that China’s presence in the canal area may violate a treaty that led the United States to turn the waterway over to Panama in 1999. That treaty calls for the permanent neutrality of the American-built canal.

Mulino has denied that China has any influence in the operations of the canal. In February, he expressed frustration[6] at the persistence of the narrative. “We aren’t going to speak about what is not reality, but rather those issues that interest both countries.”

The United States built the canal in the early 1900s as it looked for ways to facilitate the transit of commercial and military vessels between its coasts. Washington relinquished control of the waterway to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter.

Military Headlines[7] Global Hot Spots[8] Department of Defense - DoD[9] Pentagon[10] Pete Hegseth[11] Naval Support Activity Panama City[12]

© Copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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