MODERATOR: Thanks for joining us today. We had one update. This backgrounder is now on the record. You can attribute this information to Mr. Tim Dill, who is performing the duties of the deputy undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. We'll be take — we will be talking about how the department is implementing Presidential Executive Order 14184, Reinstating Service Members Discharge under the Military's COVID — COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate.
We kindly ask that you focus your questions on this topic. If your questions are outside this topic, please reach out to us at Defense Press Operations. And now, I turn it over to Mr. Dill.
TIM DILL: Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks very much for joining us. I'm excited to give you this update about the department's efforts to welcome back former service members who left service due to the department's past wrongful COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Both for service members that were involuntarily separated due to that mandate and those who voluntarily left service due to the mandate.
So in January 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14184 entitled Reinstating Service Members Discharged Under the Military's COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate. In that EO, President Trump called the department's former COVID-19 vaccine mandate unfair, overbroad and completely unnecessary. In February 2025, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth published implementing guidance for that EO, proclaiming that it is time to make things right for those service members who were impacted by the previous policy.
And Secretary Hegseth, in that document, directed the department to provide procedures to rapidly reinstate individuals impacted by the policy. The department worked hard to develop those procedures with the military departments. And that updated guidance went live this week. Former service members who were involuntarily separated solely due to their COVID-19 vaccine status are now receiving letters of apology from the department in the mail, along with instructions on how they can pursue returning to service.
Other parts of that outreach campaign to those service members involuntarily separated in the past include emails, calls, website information and social media posts. The department is also reaching out to publicize the opportunity to return to service to those who left service voluntarily due to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The Department is eager to welcome back those who are impacted by that vaccine mandate. They never should have had to leave military service. And the department is committed to assisting them in their return. As Secretary Hegseth observed, we need to do everything we can to recruit and retain a force that meets the highest necessary standards.
This effort will help us reach that goal. So we're now happy to take your questions about the policy, how the reinstatement process works and to describe any other questions you may have about what we're doing in the department to welcome those service members back. So we'll pause here and take your questions. Thank you.
MODERATOR: Thank you, sir. We ask that you ask one question, and one follow up. We'll start with Ellee, CBS.
Q: Thanks for doing this. How long do you expect it to take for I guess one service member who takes this opportunity to actually get back into service? And how is the backpay promise for each service member being calculated?
TIM DILL: Hi, Ellee. Thanks for the question. So in terms of how long the process is going to take, for one, I'll mention that this offer for reinstatement is going to be open for a year. So there's plenty of time for former service members to express their interest in returning. For former service members who do pursue returning to service, the process could take several months to return.
There's an administrative process that needs to happen, including ensuring that those seeking to return to service, meet the medical retention standards of the department, the same standards they would have been held to had they remained in service throughout this period where there never have been such a vaccine mandate.
So there could be some time to do that. Now, kind of tied into your second question about how the backpay calculation will work, it is possible to have the backpay calculations occurring in the background while the service member returns. Because we don't want to delay their return while we calculate backpay. So backpay takes into account a variety of factors.
For one, it looks at the pay and entitlements the service member would have received had they not been wrongfully discharged – and I should mention the back pay consideration is for those who are involuntarily separated due to the vaccine mandate. So the back pay calculation would look at the pay and entitlements they would have received.
That would include things like base pay allowance for housing, allowance for subsistence, and it could also include medical benefits. Part of doing that calculation also looks at other forms of compensation that former service member received while they were out of service, so things like healthcare they received on the outside, salary they received on the outside.
So there's a lot of numbers going into that formula to calculate, how can the department make them whole so that they would stand financially in the same position they would have stood in had they never been discharged? In other words, try to say a simpler way, you know, what did you miss out on? What did you not receive while you were gone?
And we want to give you that to make you whole. So let me pause there and see if you have a follow up see if that dealt with your questions. Thank you.
Q: That got them. Thank you.
MODERATOR: Thanks. Konstantin, Military.com.
Q: Thanks. So I guess my main question or the thrust of my question is, you know, the ability for service members to return — you know, this class of service member to return, folks that have depart — departed over the vaccine mandate has been in effect for a few years. I believe since 2023. Am I correct in understanding that the main change that these policy documents are rolling out to incentivize folks to — this class to return is the opportunity for backpay? And I have a follow up.
TIM DILL: Thanks for the question, Konstantin. I will say — I'm not going to try to rephrase your words, but understanding or asking is one major distinction between the current policy and the policy that has been in effect since 2023. The presence of the ability to receive backpay for those that return, that is a substantive difference between the policy today and the previous policy.
I also want to highlight the fact that this updated guidance that we've just published and that the services are distributing to impacted former service members is that anyone now trying to return, who's in that class, will be assessed for the medical retention standard rather than the traditional session standards when you go through an initial recruitment.
So I'd highlight both of those differences. I'd also like to highlight that both President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have publicly expressed and signed documents welcoming former service members impacted by this policy to return in a way that those former service members were not encouraged in the past.
I have seen some of the guidance that was received by former service members during the previous administration, and it was not at all in this tenor that President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have personally expressed sharing their eagerness to welcome back these former service members to the military. Thank you.
Q: Thank you. And then so just to follow up on that answer and thank you. So you said one of the — other differences is assessing them on the medical retention standard rather than the traditional accession standard. Can you speak a little bit as to what the different meaningful differences between those two standards?
TIM DILL: We can get more into technicalities if you'd like to, but the incoming standard when you do the initial accession, right, that is the highest medical requirement because that is the department's first take at assessing whether or not this is someone in whom the department wishes to invest significant time and resources.
And of course, they have potentially the full length of a career in service upcoming. And so that's the highest level of scrutiny for medical standards that an initial recruit would face. We do it differently for understandable reasons. Once you're in service, the department has invested significant time and energy into those service members, and they have less time to remain.
And at that point, we're assessing, are you suitable to continue in service or is your medical condition to such an extent that you no longer may remain in service? And so we've long used two different thresholds for those timings. Are you initially looking for the department to make that big investment in you? And you're at day one of what could be a long military career?
Or are you in service, and we're looking to see if you can continue performing at the level you have been? And then, of course, many times because of the requirements of operational duty, some of those decreases in medical standards are a result of your service, right? So, injuries you sustain in combat, etc., and the department seeks to help the service member work through those and stay in service.
Q: Thank you.
MODERATOR: Hayley, CNN.
Q: Hi. Thanks for doing this. I want to follow up on one of Konstantin's questions. On the backpay piece, and I'm sorry if I'm missing something obvious, but was — are the — our service members who rejoined before this policy took effect, but after it was rescinded in 2023, are they also getting backpay? Or is this only for the service members who have joined right now after this new policy has come out?
TIM DILL: Hi, Haley. Thanks for your question. So to your point, this guidance that we've published is specifically focused on service members that return to service under these policies. So just by the limits of these documents, yes, it would be to provide backpay to those who choose to return to service under these conditions in the present time.
We do understand that there's a small population of service members that previously chose to return. And the department is also grateful for their decision to return. I believe that number is under 80 individuals across the department that in the past have returned. That is also something, of course, that we can take a look at that we have not addressed in this guidance. Thank you.
Q: Got it. So just to follow up, is there any kind of I guess pathway or anything that these individuals can go through to request that backpay? Or is that something you all are looking at proactively to see if it will be afforded to them — to everyone who rejoined?
TIM DILL: Yes, thank you. So, no, we have not created that within this policy. So it's something we can also seek to address. But there is not currently a mechanism that we have provided for them to put in for the same calculations that we're doing for those that would return today.
Q: Thank you.
Moderator: Heather, USNI News [ph].
Q: Thanks so much. I was wondering if there's any estimate on how many manpower hours and the cost of the manpower required for sending out all these emails, calls, letters to people who have been separated?
TIM DILL: Yeah, thank you for the question. No, I don't have in front of me an estimate of the total manpower that will go into this process. You know, as you know, the last few years have been a difficult recruiting environment for the department. And it is — it is well worth the department's time and investment in welcoming these former service members back.
Service members that have contributed in the past and already have special skills and training in their background and will be at a higher level of readiness to contribute when they return. So the department is glad to make that investment to welcome them back. It's the right thing to do. And it should have been done previously. We're happy to do that now. Thank you.
Q: And with that, is there actually any numbers on how many people voluntarily left, you know, during the vaccine or because of the vaccine mandate?
TIM DILL: Yeah, thanks for the question. That's not something that I'm aware that the department tracked. When someone exits service, that wasn't a category that they would fall into to identify the specific reason for a voluntary departure. So we don't know exactly how many people were influenced strongly enough by the mandate that they chose to leave.
We do understand that was a determining factor for some service members. And no matter how great that population, the department wants to make sure that we reach those service members with the message that they are welcome back. That policy has now long since been rescinded. There's no such requirement anymore. We'd be glad to have them rejoin. And of course, we appreciate each of you here today being part of spreading that message that they'd be welcome to return.
MODERATOR: OK. And Liz, Fox News.
Q: Hey, thanks for doing this. How many service members have expressed interest in returning so far? And maybe this is a different number, but how many service members are currently in the process of returning to service?
TIM DILL: Yeah, thank you for the question. I don't have exact numbers. So this is mainly being run by the Military Department, so services will individually be reaching out to their own constituent populations. You know, they have letters that are going out specific to their populations as well. And then they are working with interested returning service members to go through the process.
So I do think at some point we'll have a good number across the department once we roll up that data. That's not something we have right now. I do understand that there already are former service members expressing interest in returning. And we know that there is a small number of service members already in the reinstatement process that we're leaning forward even in advance of this final guidance from our department.
Because this had been signaled ever since President Trump issued that executive order in January, so those former service members have long known that this was coming. Some of them have already acted even absent the full information because of their eagerness to return.
Q: OK. And I don't think you guys have it now, but it would be much appreciated to get an expected — an expected cost of the backpay under this program.
TIM DILL: Yeah, thank you. So I do think it'll be pretty clear at the end of this process what the cost will have been, right? Because then in hindsight, we can look back and see what was, you know, spent on each of the returning service members. And again, an investment the department's glad to make, and well worth it. It's difficult to project upfront. Because unfortunately, more than 8,700 service members were involuntarily separated due to that wrongful policy.
And so, the department would welcome back any number of them. And the total cost of reinstating them, which again is well worth it, is going to be very dependent on how many of them elect to return. And the department is fully supportive of their decisions. For some of them, it may not be the right time in their life they wish to come back.
For everyone for whom it is the right time to come back, the department welcomes them back and is eager to make that investment.
Q: Thank you. Just one last question. What's the deadline on them expressing interest in returning to service? And is there a possibility that deadline could be extended if, you know, there aren't enough service members who do express interest?
TIM DILL: Well, this is a one-year policy, so this specific opportunity has been made available through April 1st of 2026. So we anticipate that that will be enough time to effectively communicate the opportunity to every impacted service member, whether it's those who are or involuntarily separated or going through the backpay calculation process or for those who voluntarily left service and make an attestation that the COVID vaccine mandate was the reason they left service.
We're confident that we'll be able to reach out to the whole of that population and give them time to make the decision whether or not they want to express interest. So again, short answer, they have until April 1st of next year to express that interest and enter the process to return. It's too early to share right now, any thoughts.
You know, there's been no discussion right now. We're about a year out from that, so no discussion yet, nothing to share about whether or not there would be a perceived need to extend the deadline. Right now, the department is focused on effectively reaching each of those impacted service members and getting them into that process.
Q: Thank you.
MODERATOR: Thanks. Thanks so much for joining us today. Remember, this is on-the-record, and you can attribute the answers to Mr. Dill. Thanks so much. Have a great one.