It’s been ten months since President Donald Trump ordered the full reinstatement of any willing military employees ejected for declining Covid-19 shots, but as of Nov. 15 just 86 such personnel have been reinstated. The reinstatements so far account for less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the military personnel who likely left over the Biden administration mandate, depleting the military of some of its highest-character members and causing a historic personnel crisis.
President Trump’s defense team is “picking up steam” to address the reinstatements more quickly and fruitfully and approval times are down to two to three weeks after the application package is completed, Undersecretary of War for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata told The Federalist in a Tuesday afternoon phone call from his office. Confirmed in July, Tata said he immediately sought out veterans experiencing impediments to reinstatement. In September and October meetings and memorandums, “I tasked in no uncertain terms to the services that they will treat each of the members with the dignity that they deserve,” Tata said.
“There’s a lot of moving pieces, there’s a lot of good people working very hard on this,” Tata said. “We all understand the president’s executive order and the secretary’s directive, and we are moving out at full speed to welcome every single person that wants to come back from this disaffected community.”
When one service member posted online that a military processing station had turned her away from seeking the reinstatement the Trump administration has promised, Tata said after talking with her he called up the station commander and said, “What part of this don’t you understand?”
More formally, he noted the department is investigating Biden-era Covid policies and their implementation across the branches, and that investigation will make recommendations about whether and which personnel violated law and military policy in carrying out Covid orders. The investigation team includes service members reinstated after the Biden administration drummed them out of the military for their conscientious objections to Covid mandates.
Former Air Force judge advocate general Kacy Dixon, herself reinstated after declining a Covid shot while pregnant, is Tata’s liaison to that investigation and to Covid-separated soldiers seeking reparations the administration has promised for their injuries, including honorable discharges, lost benefits, and back pay, even if they don’t re-enlist. Tata noted that back pay for reinstated soldiers is often between $100,000-$150,000 per person and it includes the proper pay for promotions soldiers would have earned if they hadn’t been punished for exercising their constitutional conscience rights.
Hellbound and Down 