Thousands of veterans who were discharged for refusing the COVID vaccine under the Biden administration may now regain their GI Bill education benefits, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday.
The change stems from President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14184, which directed the federal government to provide redress for service members removed from the military solely for declining the vaccine mandate.
“The Biden administration’s authoritarian COVID mandates upended the lives and livelihoods of thousands of service members and Veterans,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins.
“We are proud to help implement President Trump’s executive order and make these Veterans whole again.”
War Secretary Pete Hegseth added, “One of the most atrocious attacks on our military by the previous administration was the discharging and targeting of perfectly healthy warfighters who refused to take an experimental vaccine implemented by an illegal mandate.”
A veteran himself, Hegseth added, “We must never let that happen again, and we must also right the wrongs of the past in order to restore trust. We at the Department of War and the VA are grateful for President Trump’s Executive Order reinstating GI Bill benefits for those veterans who were targeted for refusing the illegal COVID-19 vaccine mandate.”
The order declared the mandate an “unfair, overbroad, and completely unnecessary burden” that resulted in wrongful dismissals across the armed forces, the VA said in a release.
In the EO, Trump ordered military leaders to enable reinstatement, restore former rank, and provide back pay to any service member discharged solely for refusing the vaccine.
The order also instructed the Department of War and the Department of Homeland Security to let returning troops resume service without penalty.
Following Trump’s directive, Hegseth instructed the services to expedite discharge upgrades for troops separated under the mandate. Many of these men and women received less-than-honorable discharges, making them ineligible for GI Bill education benefits.
The Biden administration removed more than 8,000 service members for refusing the vaccine, and more than half received discharges classified as less than fully honorable.
For many, that status cut them off from education benefits they had expected to earn through years of service.
After reviewing cases, the Department of War determined that 899 Veterans who were separated for refusing the vaccine are now eligible for restored GI Bill benefits.
Thousands more could become eligible once their discharge statuses are formally upgraded under Trump’s executive order.
With the new process underway, thousands of Veterans may soon regain access to the benefits they expected to use for higher education, job training, and career advancement.
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