By Leah MarieAnn Klett | The Christian Post
Navy Commander Rob Greene recently delved into how his refusal to take the COVID-19 injection on religious grounds led to the loss of his command, threats of court-martial, and years of legal and cultural battles inside the U.S. military during a recent episode of Abby Johnson’s “Politely Rude” podcast.
Greene, a Naval Academy graduate who was commissioned in 2003 and later led a 650-person unit, became one of the most vocal opponents of the Pentagon’s vaccine mandate. He described his story as one of spiritual conviction, government overreach and the high cost of defending constitutional rights.
“It was a tough decision for the family,” Greene told Johnson, “but once we decided that we were going to take what God put in front of us, it was pretty easy.”
When, under the Biden administration, the Defense Department announced its COVID injection mandate in 2021, Greene said he quickly realized “something was wrong.” The law, he said, required service members to be given the choice to decline products authorized only under emergency use, and religious exemptions should have been honored.
Instead, Greene said, he and others who objected were threatened with dismissal and jail time. “At one point, we were threatened with potential court martials,” he said. “That comes with jail time depending on the seriousness of whatever they charge you with.”
Greene also cited his opposition to vaccines developed with fetal cell lines and invoked what he called “therapeutic proportionality,” or the idea that the risks and benefits of a medical intervention must be weighed carefully.
“It was not proportional for the mostly young, healthy population in the military,” he said.
According to Greene, those who resisted were often singled out. He described stories of recruits and enlisted personnel who endured long periods of isolation or psychological pressure.
He recounted one female sailor who, after refusing the shot, spent nearly 140 days in solitary-like quarantine. Another young recruit was locked down for 39 days at Great Lakes Recruit Training Command, denied pastoral counsel and berated by medical providers.
“The coercion was significant,” Greene said. “If you can imagine a young recruit showing up for the first time, having these convictions, and then being told he was killing grandma, that’s the kind of psychological warfare we were seeing.”
Greene became a central figure in lawsuits that challenged the military’s vaccine policy. He provided evidence showing the Navy had drafted procedures to automatically reject religious exemption requests before reviewing them.
“That was the evidence that helped win that first injunction,” he said, referring to a federal ruling that halted the involuntary separation of Navy SEALs and special operators. Similar injunctions soon followed in the Air Force and Marine Corps.
Ultimately, the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act rescinded the vaccine mandate. Greene credited the lawsuits with changing policy but argued accountability remains lacking.
“What we’re getting from our leadership is they just want to pretend nothing ever happened,” he said. “There’s been no accountability for the leaders at the very top in the military who mandated this and came through with significant coercive tactics.”
Pentagon officials have estimated that about 8,600 service members were dismissed for refusing the COVID shot. But Greene believes the true number of departures tied to the mandate was far higher, likely between 80,000 and 90,000, including early retirements and enlistments not renewed.
“Restoring 8,600 is not enough,” Greene said. “We need to find a way to repair the harms for the 80,000 to 90,000 that we chased out.”
Recruitment and retention, he warned, are already suffering. “We don’t trust our leaders if they’re willing to trample rights and no one is ever held accountable,” he said.
Greene, a father of seven, credited his wife for giving him the courage to fight. “If there’s any hero in my personal story, it’s her,” he said. “I’m not confrontational by nature. She was the driving force behind my doing what I did.”
Facing the prospect of prison, the couple prepared a contingency plan for their children. Greene said that once he surrendered the outcome to God, he found peace in going on the offensive.
“It wasn’t us breaking the law,” he said. “It was these admirals and generals.”
Although President Donald Trump’s recent executive actions direct the military to reinstate separated personnel with back pay, Greene stressed that more must be done. He called for legislative action to prevent similar overreach and for renewed focus on rebuilding trust with service members.
“We have 23,000 gaps on operational sea duty units right now,” he said. “Bringing back 8,000 service members isn’t going to put a dent in that. We need to win back trust and focus on retention.”
“When I gave it to God, I was given such peace about the decision,” he said. “I would rather face a court-martial than come home and face my wife and say I caved on something I believed in.”
First published on The Christian Post
Listen to the podcast:
Leave a Comment