During the COVID pandemic, service members were kicked out of the military for refusing to get vaccinated.
Now, Biden wants to punish them again.
Service members who were terminated for not receiving the COVID-19 vaccine are now being forced to repay their recruitment bonuses. They described it as a “kick in the face” and say that the military’s treatment has affected their mental health, according to Fox News Digital.
US service members who declined to obey the Pentagon’s vaccination requirement for COVID-19 were forced to pay back the recruitment bonus that they were given at the start of their service, an experience they describe to Fox News Digital as a “slap in the face” after spending many years dedicated to safeguarding their country.
According to Fox News Digital, one former soldier who had their enlistment ended in May last year after they declined to receive the COVID-19 shot, had to return the original bonus they had been granted as part of their contract with the Army, amounting to $7,000. Having fallen short of the six year commitment specified in the contract, they were notified by the military that they must pay a prorated amount of over $4,000. To do so, the soldier was forced to part with 60 of their days off to make up for the money owed.
“The appalling treatment these individuals endured broke the trust that is owed to our citizens and our volunteers. America’s sons and daughters,” one Army member said in a statement. “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.”
Another military member said “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. 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.”
It is sad to see how this country treats its military members at times.
Another military member told Fox News Digital “The Department of Defense continues to fall short on reestablishing trust for wrongdoings, and this is yet another example of that,” who said getting back the signing bonuses is “icing on the cake” for the government.
After President Biden authorized the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which repealed the military vaccine mandate, the Pentagon is seeking to recover signing bonuses from discharged service members. This month, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has signed a memo that updates and deletes letters of reprimand for individuals who had been denied exemption requests for the vaccine.
Republicans have expressed a strong commitment to reversing the stringent policy, attributing its existence to the “record low” military recruitment rate.
