GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday pledged he will reinstate all military personnel who were fired for refusing to take the Covid injection.
During his rally in Asheboro, North Carolina, Trump said the rehired personnel will also receive back pay.
"Kamala and Crooked Joe purged 8,000 service members from our military for refusing their Covid vaccine mandate," Trump said.
"I will rehire every patriot who was fired from the military with an apology and with back pay," Trump said.
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The Biden-Harris administration instituted vaccine mandates for every employee of the federal government, including military personal.
Servicemembers were discharged for refusing the Covid shots even on medical or religious grounds.
As of October 2023, just 43 out of the 8,000 servicemembers who were discharged for refusing the jab have rejoined the military, according to the Washington Examiner.
Several groups have sued the Biden-Harris administration over the mandates, arguing that they were unconstitutional.
“Thanks to Comrade Kamala and Joe Biden, morale in our military is now so low that almost every single branch is suffering a major recruitment and retention crisis,” Trump said at Wednesday's campaign stop. “Upon taking office, I will begin the biggest peacetime recruitment drive in the history of armed forces."
Trump called for bringing back a "sense of pride and prestige" in the United States military and called for the mass resignations of officials who oversaw the botched Afghanistan withdrawal, where 13 American servicemembers were killed in a suicide bombing.
“I will ask for the resignations of every single senior military official who touched the Afghanistan disaster,” Trump said. “I want their resignations immediately.”
Trump: “I will rehire every patriot who was fired from the military, with an apology and with back pay”
pic.twitter.com/y9VqxMYe8A — The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) August 22, 2024
