Kicked out of the Army for objecting to the once-mandated COVID-19 vaccine, a soldier finally gets the Honorable discharge he’s been seeking—but he still demands accountability for the failures that have affected thousands of others like him.
The Gateway Pundit spoke to Derrick Wynne, a former Army private first class booted from the military for refusing to get the COVID-19 shot. In November 2021, he received a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand (GOMOR), which is an administrative letter of reprimand placed on what was an honorable service record. By June 2022, he was out of the Army.
Initially, there was no option for his commander to grant him an Honorable discharge. Interestingly, after seeking legal counsel, he received a new packet with the option. Although his commander and first sergeant recommended him for an Honorable discharge, he received a General under honorable discharge with the violation of a serious offense tacked on from higher leadership.
Wynne appealed the decision but suspects his paperwork was either never read or blanketly denied like the thousands of other service members who were also seeking exemption from the COVID-19 injection.
After what he described as “an abrupt separation” from the Army, Wynne was left homeless, forcing him to apply for unemployment. “I couldn’t get unemployment because I didn’t have an Honorable discharge, [and] I couldn’t start a veteran-owned business for the same reason.”
On the one hand, he was unable to find work due to the unfavorable discharge. On the other, when potential employers would ask why he was ousted from the Army, he would have to share his objection to getting the COVID-19 shot, which he described as “a contentious issue” for many.
In addition, he could not utilize any education benefits available to most veterans. He also struggled to get a job because of the “serious offense” of refusing to get the jab. “The Army’s decision rippled outwards in immeasurable ways and my family felt every bit of it,” he lamented.
Wynne immediately filed for a discharge upgrade with the Army Discharge Review Board, expecting to wait approximately six months for the matter to be processed.
“When I didn’t hear anything, I reached out to local politicians,” he said. First, he sought help from Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX) to no avail. Then, he reached out Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), state Rep. Steve Toth (R-TX), and state Rep. Briscoe Cain (R-TX) with similar results.
“Every politician I reached out to was only interested in getting me back into the Army,” he said. “As soon as I expressed any level of desire for accountability [over the unlawfulness of the now-rescinded COVID-19 vaccine mandate], they stopped talking to me all together.”
Missing in Action: Accountability
Twenty months after submitting paperwork for a discharge upgrade himself, Wynne was notified earlier this week that he would be granted an Honorable discharge.
According to the case report and directive reviewed by The Gateway Pundit, “The Board considered [Wynne’s] exemption request based on the distinction between the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) Pfizer vaccine and the FDA Comirnaty vaccine, and his request to receive the Comirnaty vaccine.” Interestingly, a vaccine with full FDA-approval and licensure was never offered to service members like Wynne—which is what led to his forced separation from the Army in the first place.
In addition, the Board attributed the missing option to be selected for an Honorable discharge to “an administrative error.” Thus, “the Board concurred the current discharge [was] inequitable and warranted an upgrade.”
The Army has also given him the option to reenlist, but he said he’s “lost all trust” in leadership and the institution. Wynne was a “hard refusal” over the COVID-19 jab. And he no longer wants to serve in a military that pushed an injection touted as a vaccine that never should have been mandated.
To that end, he said, the Army Discharge Review Board admitted as much when acknowledging that he requested an FDA-approved vaccine over an EUA. “It’s clear as day; they knew they only had emergency use authorized injections available,” he explained.
“For the last year and a half, no governmental organization wanted to put this truth on paper,” he said. “They didn’t want to be the first to let the secret out.”
Even though he stands to gain several benefits for his time of service to the country, Wynne remains disappointed that the Department of Defense (DOD), senior military leadership, and politicians still refuse to admit that “the law was broken when they tried to force an EUA COVID-19 injection on service members.”
“Until there are names and faces of people held accountable, I won’t be satisfied,” he said. “There needs to be accountability for the amount of coercion and manipulation that occurred over this so-called vaccine.”
According to Wynne, “All the congressmen who have been dragging their feet, trying to avoid saying the vaccine was unlawful and refusing to acknowledge me and help me, it looks like I have the silver bullet [from the Army Discharge Review Board’s decision on my case].”
“So, now,” Wynne argued, “it’s quite obvious that any politician who’s not acting on this and saying the [COVID-19] shot mandate was illegal, is doing so for a deliberate reason.”
For this reason, Wynne is one of the signatories to the Declaration of Military Accountability, which includes the signatures of 231 current and former military members who seek accountability over the harm caused by the DOD’s implementation of the mandate.
A petition accompanies the declaration and others are encouraged to pledge their support to hold military leadership accountable. Almost 27,000 people have signed the petition to date.
