By Mark W. Castillon, US Army National Guard veteran
The American military rests on a sacred covenant: service demands sacrifice, and in return the nation promises honor, fairness, and support. From 2021 to 2023, this covenant was shattered for over 8,700 service members separated under the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, many unjustly.
Stripped of GI Bill benefits, healthcare, and pensions worth $40,000–$60,000 annually (VA, 2023), these warriors were cast aside by a system that valued compliance over justice. This is more than a bureaucratic failure—it is a betrayal of the profession of arms.
Administrative separations, meant to maintain order, have become a blunt instrument of punishment, prioritizing efficiency over fairness. Between 2018 and 2022, 15% of Army separations were issued as non-honorable, and 20% lacked the mandatory counseling required by regulation (GAO, 2022).
Military correction boards, established under 10 U.S.C. § 1552 to right these wrongs, are drowning in backlogs exceeding 9,000 cases, with approval rates swinging wildly—18% in the Air Force, 26–39% in the Army.
Executive Order 14184, signed in 2023 to allow reinstatement, has been hollow: only 47 of 700 petitions succeeded—a mere 0.14%.
The fallout is devastating: 15% of these veterans face foreclosure or homelessness, 25% carry debts over $10,000, and 30% grapple with depression or suicidal ideation (Swords to Plowshares, 2023–2024).
Meanwhile, senior leaders who enforced unlawful separations walk free, untouched by accountability, leaving trust and unit cohesion in tatters (RAND, 2023).
The message is clear: oversight, transparency, and due process are not bureaucratic luxuries—they are the bedrock of military legitimacy. It is also the machine that quietly sustained the very “war against warriors” Secretary Hegseth declared over at Quantico.
A Broken Promise
Captain A.J., a decorated officer with combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, stood on the precipice of retirement when the vaccine mandate ended his career. His pension, healthcare, and GI Bill benefits—earned through years under fire—vanished in a flurry of paperwork.
His story, one of thousands, reveals a system that traded dignity for expediency. Due process gave way to rushed, predetermined outcomes, reducing sacrifices to paperwork.
This failure echoes a broader pattern. In 2014, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel ordered boards to grant “liberal consideration” to veterans with PTSD or TBI.
Yet, a 2024 GAO report found inconsistent application across 22,000 cases, with Army cases taking up to 34 months, Navy 16, and Air Force as few as four. Less than half of upgrade decisions are posted online, defying War Department mandates and denying veterans transparency.
This is what low standards look like—exactly the kind that Secretary Hegseth vowed to eliminate when he declared that the War Department’s only mission is warfighting. Correction boards, entrusted to restore fairness, instead institutionalized injustice.
COVID-19 Separations
COVID-19 exposed the correction boards’ betrayal of military standards.
Major K.G., a 15-year veteran, was separated in 2022 for refusing the vaccine on religious grounds, her exemption request—protected under DoDI 1300.17—denied without review, defying War Department policy.
First Lieutenant Mark Bashaw, a West Point graduate, faced court-martial for his refusal, pardoned only in 2025 after his career was destroyed.
These blanket denials, with 95% lacking required documentation (War Department IG, 2023), replaced fairness with coercion, contradicting the strength-through-standards ethos Secretary Hegseth laid out at Quantico. Over 8,700 service members were separated, with only 0.52% (Marines) to 6.04% (Army) of 17,500 religious exemption requests approved.
In September 2025, Hegseth convened a listening session with separated veterans, hearing tales of lost homes and shattered dreams. His vow to end the “war against warriors,” reiterated today, sparked hope that the War Department might yet restore justice.
Accountability Without Consequence
The cruel irony of the mandate era is this: while thousands of service members lost everything—careers, benefits, honor—the senior leaders who enforced these separations faced no reckoning.
These were not minor penalties but penalties harsher than many federal crimes: loss of pensions, healthcare, and education benefits worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Yet, no charges were filed, no trials held, no defense permitted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Service members were judged guilty without a court, their lives upended by administrative fiat.
War Department IG investigations identified over 50 senior officers implicated in improper separations, yet none faced discipline. Accountability, it seems, flows only downward, sparing those at the top while crushing those below.
When Secretary Hegseth spoke of ending the era of unchecked generals, this is the accountability gap he meant.
Correction boards have not only failed to close it—they have shielded the very leaders who perpetuated injustice. This is the machine that must be dismantled.
No Recourse: A Closed Loop
For veterans seeking justice, the system offers exhaustion, not remedy. The Feres Doctrine, established by the 1950 Supreme Court case Feres v. United States, bars service members from suing the military for injuries “incident to service,” shielding the War Department from accountability in federal courts.
In Smith v. Secretary of the Army (2023), a veteran’s appeal was dismissed despite clear procedural violations, with the court citing Feres as a barrier.
Nearly 85% of such petitions are dismissed, leaving veterans with no judicial recourse. Inspector General offices, meant to investigate misconduct, redirect 70% of complaints back to the very commands accused of wrongdoing (NVLSP, 2023).
Appeals carry crushing costs—$25,000–$50,000 in legal fees—and force veterans to relive the trauma of rejection and stigma. Wait times—34 months for Army, 16 for Navy, 4 for Air Force—are not delays but sentences pushing veterans to despair.
This faceless system functions like the very “anonymous complaints” Secretary Hegseth vowed to end. Veterans encounter nameless panels, opaque rulings, and decisions without accountability.
If the war against warriors is truly over, these shadow boards cannot be allowed to continue.
The Human and Institutional Toll
These injustices leave veterans broken and the military weakened. The human cost is heartbreaking:
- A Navy petty officer spent six months homeless after losing $45,000 in education benefits.
- A Marine corporal’s family faced eviction after eight years of service, his daughter’s college dreams deferred.
- A National Guard sergeant, twice deployed, lost $50,000 in GI Bill funds and his civilian job after a medical exemption was denied.
These are lives, not numbers, broken by a failed system.
Institutionally, RAND (2023) reported a 15% decline in unit cohesion. The Military Leadership Diversity Commission found 65% of service members fear reporting misconduct, 40% citing separation risks.
Enlistment dropped 20% from 2021 to 2024, driven by distrust. Losing these warriors has crippled readiness, costing $200M annually in replacements—a price the War Department cannot afford. Every unfair separation undermines strength as surely as unfit troops.
A Path Forward
Urgent Fixes (Next 90 Days):
- Establish a $10M War Department task force to adjudicate EO 14184 petitions within 90 days, including veteran representatives and monthly reports to Congress.
- Mandate in-person or virtual hearings with panels featuring veteran advocates and civilian legal experts.
Restoring Oversight (6–12 Months):
- Require oversight hearings by the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.
- Expand War Department IG authority to enforce exemption standards and penalize boards for delays.
Structural Reform (12+ Months):
- Create a civilian-led review board with veterans, legal experts, and auditors, saving $100M annually (NVLSP, 2023).
- Mandate annual GAO audits with public reports.
Oversight, transparency, and due process are not burdens—they are the foundations of legitimacy. Hegseth charged his force at Quantico to “move out and draw fire.” That charge applies here: move now and cripple the machine.
Conclusion: A National Duty
This is a national shame. A nation spending $175 BILLION on Ukraine must find $500 MILLION to restore benefits for 8,700 separated service members. For GWOT veterans, the irony burns: we delivered millions in aid overseas yet face lost retirement and stability at home.
Congress must amend the NDAA for independent oversight and whistleblower protections. The covenant with our warriors is non-negotiable—ignoring these wrongs abandons those who stood for us.
At Quantico, Secretary Hegseth declared, “The war against warriors is over. The War Department’s mission is warfighting.”
Those words demand action. Reform the correction boards now, or the war on warriors continues.
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Mark W. Castillon, a 20-year Army National Guard veteran, served in combat for Operations Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn and led crisis responses from Hurricane Katrina to COVID-19. He fights for veteran mental health and due process, demanding justice for warriors betrayed by a broken system.
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