President Donald Trump's promise to return more than 8,000 U.S. military troops and grant their backpay after they were discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine must be "very comprehensive," John Frankman, who had been serving as a U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret captain when the mandates were ordered, told Newsmax Friday.
"I know President Trump, Pete Hegseth, they love service members," Frankman said on Newsmax's "National Report." "They want to help us out. I just hope that whatever they do is extremely comprehensive and that it doesn't just take care of those kicked out, but those who were forced out."
He also said that he hopes those who stayed in the military who saw their career trajectories hurt are recognized.
"I think that means real accountability for those flag officers in the form of court martials," said Frankman.
Frankman, who ended up leaving military service, recalled that when the COVID vaccine came out in January 2021, he was open with his team about making a choice whether to get the jab. "We were all concerned about some of the health risks for it, and I told them, as their leader, I would neither punish or reward them based on whether they got the shot," he said. "Because of that, I had the least-vaccinated Special Forces detachment."
As a result, the team lost deployments and more, said Frankman.
"My team sergeant was regularly harassed," he said. "We were threatened to be taken out of the team, put into the schoolhouse, things of that nature — unwanted assignments," he said. "My team time got cut short."
Eventually, Frankman said he was sent to teach ethics at West Point.
"When my religious exemption was pending, I wasn't allowed to move," he said. "I wasn't allowed to deploy; I wasn't allowed to travel, and ultimately my career was railroaded where I had to choose whether to leave on my own terms or basically get my exemption denied."
Frankman noted that most people whose exemptions were denied got general discharges, not honorable ones, which precluded them from receiving G.I. Bill and other benefits and resulted in trouble getting jobs.
While the number of service members that were affected is quoted at about 8,600, "there were tens of thousands, such as myself, who were forced out, who suffered career repercussions and had to choose, do they leave on their own terms or do they risk getting kicked out?" he said.
Frankman said he felt that the military experienced "such a betrayal" when former President Joe Biden enforced the vaccine mandate.
"You just think that you swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution," he said. "You're part of a thing that's bigger than yourself, and you think that your leadership has your back."
Green Berets, he added, are to think critically when they are given orders, but for those who would not accept the vaccine, "all that training and all that service that you've given, the ones that you want to protect — the United States of America — [were] … either pushed out or forced to leave on their own."
Frankman said if he had stayed at West Point, he would have been a career military member, but since getting out, he feels that God has called on him to be an advocate for service members.
"I'm currently still trying to stay involved in the military," he said. "I'm out in Germany helping with the military exercise out here as a contractor."
There are many former service members, though, whose lives are much worse after the vaccine mandates, said Frankman.
"There are a lot of people who have been injured by the vaccine," he said. "There are people who just haven't been able to get on their toes, who had divorces and difficulties happening."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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