Thousands of Navy SEALs and service members negatively affected by President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate have won a major court victory after a years-long legal battle.
The mandate issued in August 2021 led to the forced dismissal of more than 8,000 military personnel who refused to receive the vaccine for religious or medical reasons.
Navy SEALs and other special operators suffered professional setbacks for refusing the vaccine, even though their requests for religious accommodations were denied multiple times.
They were fired, denied training to advance in rank, and in some cases even forced by the military to give back their initial signing bonuses of between $4,000 and $7,000.
SEALs and other special operations troops were also told they would have to reimburse the federal government for the cost of their training (hundreds of thousands of dollars) and turn in their hard-earned “Trident” pin.
Under the agreement first obtained by DailyMail.com, the records of service members who left the Navy after being “mistreated” will be corrected.
Navy SEALs and other special operators suffered professional setbacks for refusing the vaccine, even though their requests for religious accommodation were denied multiple times.
Additionally, the Navy also “agreed to release a statement affirming the Navy’s respect for religious service members.”
The military will provide “further training” to current commanders who review religious accommodation requests and change their policy.
Finally, the government will pay $1.5 million in attorneys’ fees accrued during nearly four years of litigation.
“This has been a long and difficult journey, but the Navy SEALs never gave up,” Danielle Runyan, senior adviser at the First Liberty Institute, told DailyMail.com.
“We are pleased that those Navy members who were guided by their conscience and steadfast in their faith will not be penalized in their Navy careers.”
First Liberty and Hacker Stephens LLP reached the settlement on behalf of the troops, which was accepted by the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division on Wednesday.
Heather Gebelin Hacker added that it was a “hard-fought but significant victory.”
A Navy spokesman referred DailyMail.com to the Justice Department for comment, which did not immediately respond.
Earlier this year, more than 200 active-duty and retired military members vowed to hold the Biden administration accountable for “trampling” on their rights by enforcing the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
More than 200 military personnel said they will do “everything” in their power to secure accountability, as no leaders have resigned or been held accountable despite the revocation of the vaccine mandate last year.
The mandate issued in August 2021 led to the forced dismissal of more than 8,000 military personnel who refused to receive the vaccine for religious or medical reasons.
On New Year’s Day, more than 200 military personnel declared they will do “everything” in their power to hold them accountable, as no leaders have resigned or been held accountable despite the revocation of the vaccine mandate.
In a letter obtained by DailyMail.com, current and former troops accuse Biden’s top military brass of “continuing to ignore” their pleas to correct “injuries and laws that were broken.”
They are even threatening to force top Biden leaders out of retirement so they can be court-martialed and held accountable.
“In implementing the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, military leaders violated the law, trampled on constitutional rights, denied informed consent, permitted involuntary medical experimentation, and suppressed the free exercise of religion,” the letter states.
The document goes on to say that both service members and their families were “significantly harmed” and that their “suffering continues to be felt financially, emotionally and physically.”
“Some service members became part of our growing homeless veteran population, some developed debilitating vaccine injuries, and some even lost their lives,” the letter continues.
The mandate was ultimately repealed in the December 2022 defense authorization bill, but it did not reinstate service members who were fired for not getting the vaccine or provide any other compensation.
In the open letter, they explicitly name senior commanders now retired and still serving, demanding that they be held accountable.
They include former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Mark Milley, who left the Army in October, and Gen. James McConville, who served as the 40th Army chief of staff until 2023.
“These individuals allowed lawlessness and involuntary experimentation on service members,” they say.
“The moral and physical wounds they helped inflict are significant. They betrayed the trust of members of the armed forces and the American people. Their actions caused irreparable damage to the Armed Forces and the institutions for which we have fought and shed blood.”
“They have refused to resign” or take any responsibility for their actions, the military says.
The letter goes on to pledge to hold them accountable through “words and legal action.”
The Army has recently come under scrutiny for trying to regain favor with soldiers. who were fired after declining the COVID-19 vaccine for religious or medical reasonsoffering a ‘correction of military records’.
A Navy SEAL instructor assists Basic Underwater Demolition/SEA students
The letter sparked an angry outcry against the Defense Department from lawmakers and former military personnel.
But the letter sparked an angry outcry against the Defense Department from lawmakers and current and former military personnel who said there was always a process in place to do just that.
Since taking office, the Army has also faced a massive recruit shortage in fiscal year 2022, with 55,000 recruits, or 10,000 fewer than its goal for the year.
Congress is also working to further remedy the wrongs these service members faced, but many soldiers have told DailyMail.com that it is just the beginning.
In the most recent National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was passed a year later in December 2023, there is a provision that allows former military personnel who were discharged to change their discharge status.
But some current and former troops say the fiscal year 2024 NDAA amendments aren’t strong enough to undo the “serious harassment” they endured over the past two years.
John Frankman, who served in the Special Forces as part of the Green Berets, said the “lost career opportunities” he suffered over the past two years could never be undone by any action by Congress.
Another active-duty Army officer previously told DailyMail.com that the discharged troops “had their lives turned upside down and were betrayed by those charged with protecting them.”
And a formal apology from their service branches would be key to restoring trust, he added.
