A top Navy official and patriotic veteran is looking to restore justice to those troops forced out of the military over the improperly tested COVID-19 vaccines.
Under Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao, whose remarkable story brought him from escaping Vietnam to challenging entrenched Democrat politicians to the Trump-Hegseth War Department, abhors socialistic authoritarianism like some of the moves of the Biden administration during the infamous COVID-19 lockdowns. Now that Cao is in a position to do so, he is offering apologies and invitations to return for troops who chose to follow their conscience rather than illicit government orders.
In an official Navy Department video posted on X, Cao said, “To the sailors and Marines who were wrongfully discharged during COVID, we failed you. We will never allow this to happen again, not on my watch. We are ready for you to come back, and we want to correct your records.”
Taking care of our warfighters and righting past wrongs are top priorities for @SecWar and @SECNAV. Today, Under Secretary Hung Cao signed an apology letter to our warriors of conscience who were unjustly removed from service by the unlawful COVID-19 vaccine mandate, and we are… pic.twitter.com/EEP7JjVpQj
— U.S. Navy (@USNavy) January 24, 2026
He praised the integrity of those people who felt for religious reasons or other reasons of conscience they could not take the experimental COVID-19 vaccines. “You are a warrior’s conscience, and we need people like you back in the force to accomplish peace through strength,” Cao concluded the brief message. “We’re righting this wrong, and it starts with this formal letter of apology. Semper Fi and Hooyah.” He signed an official apology letter.
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Cao oversees about a million Marines, Navy, and civilian personnel in his position, according to Fox News. Based on the video, it would seem that this particular offer applies to sailors and Marines, rather than the U.S. military at large.
This is not the first time the Trump administration has invited military forced out over the COVID-19 vaccines to return. There was, however, some confusion or complications last year, as the then-Defense Department was giving troops interested in returning a form requiring them to state that they “voluntarily separated” or allowed their service to lapse, and that their “decision to separate was made freely and without coercion.” This caused a number of troops to reject the deal to return, arguing that they underwent various forms of pressure and coercion before leaving the military.
Perhaps this new effort is the result of investigation into and understanding of the previous error. As a veteran himself, Hung Cao likely understands the frustration of working with a military bureaucracy that is often incompetent and sometimes outright corrupt.
The Marine Corps alone pressured out thousands of their troops during the Biden administration’s ideological campaign to force the COVID-19 vaccine on the entire military and civilian employees. With the job market still not exactly where it should be, the Trump administration, restoring the military, and the military providing both job security and the honor of serving our country, one hopes that many patriots will choose to come back now, accepting the apology letter and donning the uniform once more.
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