There will be accountability: Trump says he'll fire military leaders who mandated the vaccine on the troops

At a Town Hall event in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Oct. 4, a former Green Beret told former President Trump that he was forced out of the U.S. military for refusing the Covid vaccine, and asked Trump what he’d do to repair the damage done to the military and hold its leaders accountable.

“There should have never been a mandate. That should have never happened,” said Trump, adding that troops should have been given a choice whether to get the vaccine or not.

Trump asked the former Green Beret if he ever did get the vaccine, and he replied that he never did.

Trump then asked him if he’d ever go back in to the service.

The soldier used the opportunity to press Trump, saying: “As long as there’s accountability, potentially.”

To this, the former president responded: “Oh, there’ll be accountability is right. We’ll fire their asses.”

He continued:

“We’re going to take care of it…They should have never had the mandate. The mandate was a big mistake, and they treated people terribly, terribly.”

Operation Warp Speed, the mission to produce a vaccine for Covid-19 and to distribute it across the country in record time, was announced by then President Trump in the Rose Garden at the White House on May 15, 2020.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was granted emergency authorization on Dec. 11 of that year and the Moderna vaccine on Dec. 18. Both were made available to the elderly, health care workers and certain others starting that month, with most Americans getting the vaccine between January and April of 2021.

But there was no mandate on the troops until August 24, 2021, when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that mandatory vaccination against Covid-19 was “necessary to protect the Force and defend the American people.”

Over the year that followed, more than 8,600 members of the military were discharged or forced out for not getting the Covid vaccine, in most cases after their requests for religious and medical exemptions had been denied.

In March of 2023, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida questioned Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin as to why DOD had not reached out to these servicemembers to invite them back after the vaccine mandate had been lifted, saying the military was facing a “recruiting nightmare.”

He pointed to the finding of the DOD’s Office of Inspector General that the military had violated the constitutional rights of servicemembers by not considering their requests for exemptions individually, and instead denying them all.

Austin defended the mandate, saying it had saved lives.

Gaetz again questioned Austin in February of this year, asking if he’d call for the re-recruitment, restoration of full rank and back pay for the 8,600 servicemembers who had been “vax-mandated” out of the military.

“Uh, no. I won’t,” Austin responded.

At rallies in August and September, Trump promised that he would give back pay and an apology to all servicemembers forced out of the service for not getting the Covid shot.

But October 4 was the first time he’s said he’d fire commanders who enforced the vaccine mandate.

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Select comments under YouTube video of Trump’s interaction with the former Green Beret: