It’s been nearly a month since Congress forced the Biden administration to rescind the military COVID vaccine mandate, yet the fallout from the last year and a half continues to wreak havoc on personal lives and careers.

After the Pentagon officially rescinded the mandate last week, The Sentinel spoke with Lt. Col. Davis Younts about what the future looks like for service members who declined the vaccine.

Younts is a JAG officer, or military lawyer, for the U.S. Air Force reserves, speaking in his private capacity as a civilian attorney representing members of nearly every military branch, including several Navy SEALS, in the battle against the Biden vaccine mandate.

“The policy does not protect or address the status of those who were improperly denied a religious accommodation or medical exemption,” Younts said. “All indications are that the Department of Defense will continue to discriminate against those who are unvaccinated in terms of assignments, duties, and deployments. They will likely continue to force boosters.”

“All indications are that the Department of Defense will continue to discriminate against those who are unvaccinated in terms of assignments, duties, and deployments. They will likely continue to force boosters.”

Service members who were booted from the military over the mandate will face ongoing problems receiving their benefits, a contractual part of military pay. They will also have difficulty getting jobs in the civilian world.

These problems abound for thousands of service members, whether active-duty, reservists, or recently discharged.

Said Younts:

Everybody that leaves the military gets a DD214, that’s the document that says when you served, shows your medals and decorations, shows if you’ve deployed, and it will give your service characterization and why you separated. Those who’ve separated over the vaccine mandate, their DD214 will say the reason for separation was ‘misconduct’ and a serious offense.

The ramifications for declining the vaccine will impact service members’ future careers in the civilian world, as well. Younts explained:

Imagine you’ve served eight years and then separated over the mandate. You have lost your GI Bill and veteran benefits, and when you go to apply for a job, your potential employer will ask ‘Have you served in the military?’ And then every employer will ask to see your DD214. And it will say that you’ve been discharged, but not an honorable discharge but a general discharge, which is a negative for almost all employers. But even worse, it will say on the document under reason for separation that you were ‘separated for misconduct, commission of a serious offense'.

These members will have a stigma for the rest of their lives if they cannot get their records fixed, because of how they were discharged from the military.

“The vast majority are individuals who declined the vaccine because of their religious faith, a process that’s now been called into question by every federal court who has had the chance to look at it,” said Younts.

The only path that is open for those individuals now, as the Defense Secretary’s memo explains, is the Board of Military Corrections office. According to Younts, it takes on average about two years to get a decision back from the board.

The only path that is open for those individuals now, as the Defense Secretary’s memo explains, is the Board of Military Corrections office. According to Younts, it takes on average about two years to get a decision back from the board. Said Younts:

It will be at least a two year battle and there’s no guarantee that they will change anything on one’s records, because the military will take the position of ‘Well, we told you to do it, because at the time, it was a lawful order. Unless Congress acts and there is a significant change in policy, there’s no guarantee of relief.

Younts explained that reservists are facing hardships as well.

Thousands are being pushed into the IRR (individual ready reserve) where they are in a holding pattern status where they cannot be assigned to a unit, and cannot drill or train. The reservists in the IRR cannot earn retirement benefits and are put in a position where they lose any benefits of being in the reserves.

As Younts explained, most reservists use their status to cover healthcare and other benefits. But because they’re not willing to comply with the vaccine, they’ve been put into the IRR where they may be eventually removed for lack of readiness due to being unable to train or finish their military career:

While the mandate no longer exists, these reservists have been told by their chain of command to not expect to return and train. While no official policy has been put out by any of the branches yet, what my clients are being told right now is that they’re out of luck. There is still a pervasive animosity, disdain, and discriminatory treatment for reservists and others who did not get the vaccine and applied for religious accommodation.

Active duty members who haven’t been kicked out of the military, but were in the process, have been protected by the injunctions in federal court. However, those individuals will still not receive full justice for what has occurred in the waiting time.

Active duty members who haven’t been kicked out of the military, but were in the process, have been protected by the injunctions in federal court. However, those individuals will still not receive full justice for what has occurred in the waiting time.

According to the memo by the Defense Secretary, individuals can have adverse actions removed from their files. The problem is, explained Younts, many have been fired from leadership and command positions due to declining vaccines, and have been unable to get further education necessary to be eligible for promotions.

Career and performance reports are tainted by what has happened.

Letters of reprimand affect performance reports, which is what the boards review when promoting service members. Their reports will show that they didn’t deploy, were removed from a position, or did not attend further education and training that would make them eligible to take next steps in their career.

In addition to those who have been discharged, the reservists, and those with active duty status, there are thousands who chose not to reenlist due to how military leadership and morale has suffered under mandates and restrictions.

“There are thousands and thousands who either retired early or didn’t reelist,” Younts said. “Those are uncaptured thousands of people that aren’t documented anywhere – it’s just lower retention numbers on paper.”

“There is more that Congress could do and needs to do, but there also will be a lasting negative impact on morale within the military over this,” said Younts. “If the trend continues of more and more adverse impacts and side effects of the vaccine, the morale is only going to get worse.”

“Put pressure on your congressional leaders, and encourage investigations to ensure that the military does not put political issues ahead of military readiness. We need more action. Congress can do more to restore military morale.” — Lt. Col. Davis Younts speaking in his private capacity as a civilian attorney

The memo from Secretary Austin includes a note to continue encouraging all military to get the COVID vaccine and get boosted. But Younts said that what we have seen from the military so far is coercive efforts and discriminatory treatment toward the unvaccinated. Said Younts:

The Navy, for instance, had a policy where the unvaccinated couldn’t go to church, because there were more than 25 people. And even though boosters were not required for deployment, they could not leave the ship unless they had the booster. There’s nothing about this latest policy that suggests that discriminatory treatment under the guise of ‘operational decisions’ will end.

One possible loophole that could be used against the unvaccinated is making service members non-deployable. After about a year, they would likely be pushed out and discharged:

Even with Congressional action to end the mandate, and even with Secretary Austin’s memo and the DoD policy, there are still a lot of unanswered questions for people. Until we see what the individual service policies are, we won’t know. And there will likely be years of work representing people and trying to help them through the discharge board and process. The federal litigation with violations of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act will take years as well.

The next fight after the vaccine mandate will likely be over pronoun use, Younts said:

There are a lot of people who will be uncomfortable being forced to have preferred pronouns in their signature, and feel it violates their religious freedom. Stand with Warriors is going to support the troops through that battle as well. Everything we see in society comes up in the military as well, it’s a microcosm of society, and there is always work to be done.

The Sentinel asked Younts how the American people can support and fight for the troops as they face leadership challenges.

Younts said:

Put pressure on your congressional leaders, and encourage investigations to ensure that the military does not put political issues ahead of military readiness. We need more action. Congress can do more to restore military morale. Congress could tell the Department of Defense to reinstate all who were kicked out and give them back pay. There’s a lot they could do. Congress could fix all of these reports and records, and pass a law that stated that every service member who was kicked out due to refusing a vaccine was due full back pay and an honorable discharge if they did not want to come back in. The general public can stay in the fight by putting pressure on congressional leaders to take these actions.

Those who want to show support for and stay informed on the fight for U.S. service members’ religious and constitutional rights can go to StandWithWarriors.org.