Pentagon offering back pay, benefits to troops forced out over refusal to follow COVID mandates

The Pentagon is reaching out to some 8,700 ex-service members who were forced out of the military over the Defense Department’s COVID-19 mandate during the Biden administration, offering them their old jobs and the back pay they lost.

The former military personnel, some of whom were close to retirement when they were booted out, also will receive formal letters of apology because of what they went through, a Defense Department official said Tuesday.

“The department is eager to welcome back those who were impacted by that vaccine mandate,” said Tim Dill, the Pentagon’s acting deputy undersecretary for Personnel and Readiness. “They never should have had to leave military service, and the [Defense Department] is committed to assisting them in their return.”

The former troops will have a year to decide whether they want to come back into the military. After that, it could take several months before they are able to get back into their old uniforms.

“There’s an administrative process that needs to happen, including ensuring that those seeking to return to service meet the medical retention standards of the department,” Mr. Dill said. “It’s the same standards they would have been held to had they remained in service throughout this period if there never had been a vaccine mandate.”

The back pay offer is only for those who were involuntarily separated from the military over the COVID-19 vaccine. But those who left the service of their own accord because of the mandate will also be allowed to resume their military careers, officials said.

The calculation for back pay will include several factors, including housing allowances and medical benefits that were lost because they were forced out.

“There are a lot of numbers going into that formula to calculate how the [Defense] Department can ‘make them whole’ so they can stand financially in the same position they would have been had they never been discharged,” Mr. Dill said.

The Pentagon doesn’t have figures for how many military personnel opted to leave the service because of the COVID mandate.

“We do understand that was a determining factor for some service members,” Mr. Dill said. “No matter how great that population, the Defense Department wants to make sure that we reach those service members with the message that they are welcome back.”

For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.