The U.S. Navy on Friday issued an apology to all the military members who were “unjustly removed” from their posts years ago because of former President Joe Biden’s draconian vaccine mandate.
“To the sailors and Marines who were wrongfully discharged during COVID, we failed you,” Under Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao said in a video published to the social media site X. “We will never allow this to happen again, not on my watch. We are ready for you to come back, and we want to correct your records.”
“You are warriors of conscience, and we need people like you back in the force to accomplish peace through strength. We are righting this wrong, and it starts with this formal letter of apology. Semper Fi and Hooyah!” he added.
Taking care of our warfighters and righting past wrongs are top priorities for @SecWar and @SECNAV. Today, Under Secretary Hung Cao signed an apology letter to our warriors of conscience who were unjustly removed from service by the unlawful COVID-19 vaccine mandate, and we are… pic.twitter.com/EEP7JjVpQj
— U.S. Navy (@USNavy) January 24, 2026
This move comes a little over a year after President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to reinstate the military members who’d been fired by Biden.
Months later in April, the Department of War began taking the first “significant steps to reinstate service members who were discharged due to the now-rescinded COVID-19 vaccine mandate.”
“Former service members who were involuntarily separated solely due to their COVID-19 vaccine status are now receiving letters of apology from the department in the mail, along with instructions on how they can pursue returning to service,” a War Department official announced at the time.
Tim Dill, performing the duties of the deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, also announced information about potential backpay.
“Back pay takes into account a variety of factors … the pay and entitlements they would have received had they not been wrongfully discharged,” he said.
Joe Biden kicked military members out of the service before the holidays for refusing to take an experimental vaccine.
President Trump restored them completely with back pay and all, and then included a $1776 Christmas Warrior bonus for good measure.
— Brenden Dilley (@WarlordDilley) December 18, 2025
Later in October, the Pentagon announced that former military members who returned would be guaranteed “special category VIP or ‘white glove’ treatment.'”
“Special treatment for returning troops includes accepting late arrival, being given priority processing, and a ‘trained escort to expedite screening,'” CNN reported at the time, quoting from a memo by Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata.
The memo “told military service leaders to make changes at Military Entrance Processing Stations, or MEPS, sites where recruits undergo medical screenings, aptitude tests and other final checks before being brought into military service,” CNN noted.
Strangely enough, not that many of the thousands of fired workers have returned.
“Months after the Pentagon rolled out a policy aimed at wooing back service members booted from the military over the COVID-19 vaccine, the Pentagon has confirmed that only 13 people — all Army soldiers — have rejoined,” Military.com reported in June.
In July, the Federal News Network provided an update revealing that “approximately 700 former service members have expressed interest in reinstatement under the new policy.”
“Of those 700 people, only 97 took the next step of having their records reviewed by the Board for Correction of Military Records or Naval Records,” according to the Network.
The year ended with War Secretary Pete Hegseth ordering the military to provide relief to former military members who received a paltry general discharge because of the vaccine mandate when they had in fact deserved an honorable discharge.
The problem with a general discharge is it means that the discharged individual may not take advantage of GI Bill educational benefits for either themselves or their family.
“It is unconscionable that thousands of former service members who held true to their personal and religious convictions were not just separated, but separated with general [discharges], rather than honorable discharge characterizations,” Hegseth wrote in a memo.
“While many have applied for and received relief from our military department review boards, I believe the onus is on us to make this right,” he added.
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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