{"id":404201,"date":"2025-04-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=404201"},"modified":"2025-04-07T17:01:01","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T17:01:01","slug":"air-force-personnel-involuntarily-discharged-over-vaccine-mandate-offered-reinstatement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=404201","title":{"rendered":"Air Force personnel involuntarily discharged over vaccine mandate offered reinstatement"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.defense.gov\/2021\/Oct\/01\/2002866474\/2000\/2000\/0\/211001-D-HN545-1000.PNG\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><strong class=\"article-detail-dateline\">ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) &#8212; \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Department of Defense is offering a pathway for reinstatement for service members involuntarily discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. The military departments will review discharge records, using standardized criteria, to identify those separated solely due to the vaccine mandate. Those whose records don&#8217;t clearly indicate a sole-cause separation will be contacted directly.<\/p>\n<p>Each eligible former service member will be contacted by mail, email (if possible) and phone by a uniformed representative and invited to apply for reinstatement. The outreach will explain the streamlined application process, potential financial benefits (including required offsets) and the requirement for a four-year service commitment upon reinstatement.<\/p>\n<p>Interested individuals will undergo pre-screening to assess their physical and medical eligibility, utilizing Military Entrance Processing Stations (MEPS). While screened according to accession standards, they&#8217;ll be adjudicated against retention standards, with waivers liberally applied. Only presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed civilians can disapprove waivers.<\/p>\n<p>The Boards for Correction of Military\/Naval Records (BCM\/NRs) will prioritize these reinstatement cases, subject to existing statutory priorities. The BCM\/NRs will review records for errors or injustices and may order corrections, including reinstatement without a break in service, restoration of rank and credit for lost service time. The service secretaries retain final disapproval authority for reinstatement of eligible service members.<\/p>\n<p>Pre-reinstatement assistance will include expedited pay and benefits estimates. The gap in service will count as active service for retirement pay calculations for those previously in full-time status. Ready Reserve members will receive retirement points as outlined in 10 U.S.C. \u00a7 12732(a)(2), with a minimum of 50 points annually.<\/p>\n<p>After receiving a compensation estimate, former service members will have 60 days to accept reinstatement in writing, acknowledging the four-year service commitment (a two-year option exists for those within two years of retirement eligibility at their separation date). Those declining reinstatement may still apply to the BCM\/NR for other relief.\u00a0This policy does not apply to those separated for misconduct unrelated to the vaccine mandate.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.af.mil\/COVID-Reinstatement\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>More information<\/strong><\/a> can be found here.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ast-split ntext breakout \">\n<div class=\"item\">\n<div class=\"body\">\n<section class=\"ast-brandedhr\">\n<div class=\"ast-brandedhr-line\">\n<p>                <title>U.S. Air Force Logo<\/title><\/p><\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) &#8212; \u00a0 The Department of Defense is offering a pathway for reinstatement for service members involuntarily discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. The military departments will review discharge records, using standardized criteria, to identify those separated solely due to the vaccine mandate. Those whose records don&#8217;t clearly indicate a sole-cause separation will [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":108410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-404201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=404201"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":404202,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404201\/revisions\/404202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/108410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=404201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=404201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=404201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}