The U.S. Army sent a letter to former service members dismissed for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, stating that they can request corrections to their discharge records. This comes as the military continues to grapple with recruitment challenges, with numbers falling short of expectations.
Recruiting has been hampered by the unconstitutional COVID-19 vaccine mandate as well as an increasingly woke military atmosphere where trans soldiers are give special privileges while Christian soldiers are persecuted, bases host drag shows, and leaders with a history of anti-white statements are hired.
The letter, which gained attention on social media, addresses former service members and informs them of “new Army guidance regarding the correction of military records” following the rescission of the COVID-19 vaccination requirement. It states that former soldiers who were involuntarily separated for refusing the vaccine can request a correction of their military records from the Army Discharge Review Board (ADRB) or the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR).
The US Army sent a whoops we messed up we need you letter to the service members wrongly fired for being unvaccinated
They should not go back and see this as a blessing and not give their life for a corrupt government who does not care about them pic.twitter.com/vNiJMQ86Bl
— Frank Grimes Jr. (@FrankGrimes_Jr) November 17, 2023
Among those who separated from the service is John Frankman, a former Captain in the United States Army and Green Beret at 7th Special Forces Group who voluntarily separated from the military on July 1st due to his refusal to receive the experimental COVID-19 vaccine.
“I voluntarily separated from the Army due to lost opportunities and the consequences I faced for refusing the COVID vaccine,” Frankman told The Gateway Pundit.
“I realized that my religious exemption was most likely going to get denied and that I would risk facing a general discharge for serious offense instead of an honorable discharge. A general discharge, which is what about 80% of those discharged received, means one doesn’t maintain all of their VA benefits, including the GI Bill, to go to school. Furthermore, I left because I lost out on so many career opportunities, and getting my career back on trajectory was impossible.”
In a frank exposé through the Floridian Press, Frankman discusses personal freedoms and the rights of service members which he felt were compromised during the vaccine mandate’s enforcement. He recounts the pressure directly from military leaders to prioritize vaccination as a “readiness” issue, which led to the coercion of personnel, himself included, regardless of their legal or medical reservations.
Throughout the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccine, the rights of service members’ consciences were not respected. During that time, the highest levels of the Department of Defense obscured information about the legality of the mandate, the medical safety of the shot, and the ethical implications of these vaccines. Most leaders, even if concerned about the shot, were ignorant about its medical side effects and the legality of the order.
As a Special Forces Team Leader, I told my men I would neither punish nor reward them for receiving the shot and that I personally did not want to take it.
The majority of my team opted not to get the shot, with only two of the 12 members choosing to take the vaccine before the official mandate. The primary concern was the vaccine’s emergency use authorization (EUA) status and that therefore the drug companies could not be held liable for side effects.
By early 2021, we were all aware that these shots were experimental and already associated with some side effects. All of us were healthy individuals without any comorbidities and as such the risk for suffering dangerous reaction to COVID was low. Many team members already contracted COVID providing natural immunity.
We were also aware that every vaccine created up until that point was tested and/or created utilizing aborted fetal cells.
As a result of my team’s choices before the mandate was in place, my team sergeant and I were constantly harassed by the Company Sergeant Major. At one point he told me, I was screwing up my career and that he would kick guys on my team out of the company and send them to undesirable assignments if their vaccine status lost missions. Multiple times he specified, ‘this was not a threat, but a promise.’
When the official mandate came into effect, Frankman recalls being subjected to administrative counseling and pressure to receive the vaccine. He raised concerns about the vaccine’s safety as reported by the Center for Disease Control’s Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS). However, his concerns were downplayed, and the mandate forced leaders to prevent unvaccinated soldiers from deploying, even in countries without a vaccine requirement. Frankman’s team chose to forfeit their mission rather than receive the vaccine.
“As a detachment commander, my team and I had a mission taken from us to a country that did not require the COVID shot even before the mandate went into effect because 10 of 12 of my soldiers were not vaccinated,” said Frankman.
Frankman was selected for a teaching position at the United States Military Academy at West Point but was unable to proceed due to the restrictions placed on service members with pending religious exemptions.
“Because unvaccinated service members with a pending religious exemption couldn’t move, deploy, or travel, I was taken off my team early and never afforded any opportunity to deploy or attend career-enhancing schools. The biggest setback for me was losing an opportunity to get a two-year Master’s Degree and teach philosophy and an ethics course at the US Military Academy at West Point all because I couldn’t move with a pending religious exemption.”
After years of pressure and the detrimental effects of the vaccine mandate on his career opportunities, Frankman has made the decision to separate from the Army because “it cost me the opportunity to teach and form cadets at West Point, cut my team leader time short, and cost me other career opportunities.”
In his exit interview, he questioned the legality of the mandate and raised concerns about vaccine injuries but was met with accusations of extremism.
In November of 2022, during my exit interview with a Colonel, I asked whether the vaccine mandate was legal, whether he knew it required an FDA approved shot to be legal, whether he had heard of the Nuremberg Code, and if the unit was doing anything to track down vaccine injuries.
In response I was accused of being extremist, reminded that the crusades are an example of what happens when there is too much ideology, questioned if I followed selfless leadership, and asked what I would say to a fellow Christian or Catholic that received the shot.
I responded that I was at peace and believed my actions to be selfless as I followed my conscience and did what I believed to be the right thing. I also responded that I would ask a fellow Catholic or Christian if it is justifiable to take a drug linked to an abortion; the murder of an unborn human and continued theft of its body parts and products; for a disease with over a 99.99% survival rate.
When asked how his experience influenced his current perspective on military policies and service member rights, Frankman told The Gateway Pundit:
“I find the military’s reaction to COVID and all their policies and actions that followed deeply disturbing. It highlighted a much larger inability of most leaders to think critically and a lack of moral courage to do the right thing when it means facing any kind of adversity. Very early on, my Detachment was aware that the shots offered were experimental, that they all used aborted fetal cells in the testing or production, that there existed the risk of heart issues in young men who received the shot, that natural immunity worked better than any vaccine, and that the entire policy and response was completely politically driven. Unfortunately, even those who understood the problems with the mandates were unwilling to oppose them because it would negatively affect their career. Furthermore, many opposed who did not want the shot found the coercive tactics and measures too much to withstand.
I think there is a deeply disturbing problem with political generals at the top who sadistically understood the policies they were breaking, but broke them anyway thinking they could get away with it for their own personal benefit and to push a political agenda. However, those service members and leaders below also failed to think critically to understand the absurdity of the policies and to morally stand up for what is right. I do believe that conservatives and people of good will should still join the military as the military is intrinsically tied to the success or failure of our country. We also cannot let the DoD become another three-letter agency overtaken and weaponized by the left. Those considering joining must be critically aware of the environment they will face and be prepared to do the right thing, no matter how difficult.”
In a viral video, Frankman criticizes the Biden regime and the military for their treatment of service members who refused the vaccine. He asserts that the military’s recruiting crisis is a consequence of the vaccine mandate and the dismissive treatment of unvaccinated soldiers.
“Until we have some actual accountability, until we get some apologies, I wouldn’t think that this letter is going to do anything,” said Frankman.
