The Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records (BCMR/NR) process to correct errors and rectify injustices brought on by the 2021 COVID-19 shot mandate is failing to meet the needs of service members. Meanwhile, War Secretary Pete Hegseth and his political appointees, like Stuart Scheller, find themselves having to personally intervene to overcome insubordinate challenges to their authority.
According to a May 7 memo from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense to the secretaries of the military departments, “The BCM/NRs should carefully consider claims by individuals who filed formal requests for administrative or medical accommodation, including requests for religious accommodation, related to the Department’s previous COVID-19 vaccine mandate, yet continued to serve. Adverse actions in a Service member’s records solely associated with their refusal to take a COVID-19 vaccination or seek an exemption from that COVID-19 vaccine mandate should be removed.”
Having written 175 articles, engaging with countless service members and veterans regarding the military’s 2021 shot mandate, there is a significant degree of authority inherent in the statements that follow, statements that question the reliability and capability of the BCM/NR process.
Where former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin squandered his years of service to the country to tyrannically enforce a COVID-19 mandate, War Secretary Hegseth stands poised on the precipice of restoration, seizing the moment to make his mark on the nation and it military. He has correctly labeled the shot mandate as unlawful and is making every effort to offer reinstatement and restoration to those who were adversely affected or removed due to their objections to the shot.
Consider the example of Chief Warrant Officer 4 Brandon Budge, who recently had a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand (GOMOR) removed from his record and was subsequently granted a promotion that he had rightfully earned three years prior. Sounds great, right? But there’s more to this narrative.
CW4 Budge’s story provides a key illustration of the bureaucratic malfeasance that has undermined the hands of Pentagon leadership and harmed service members for far too long. Following nearly two years of the Department of the Army Suitability Evaluation Board (DASEB) and BCMR overlooking the evidence he provided in his defense and declining to offer any relief, it was the involvement of senior Pentagon officials, like Derrick Anderson, Acting Assistant Army Secretary for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, and Anthony Tata, Under Secretary of War for Personnel and Readiness [USW(P&R)], that ultimately led to the removal of his GOMOR.
The extent of BCMR’s willingness to engage was nothing more than a half measure, at best, that ignored his previous selection for promotion. Full relief was granted only after Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll, USW(P&R) Senior Advisor Stuart Scheller, and others took action, and included making his rank effective retroactively from February 1, 2022.
Why is intervention from the top necessary when clear direction to correct these records has already been provided? Could it be chain of command and BCMR corruption below the most senior levels of the military? It was definitely on full display for the world to see with the Budge example. The decisions to revoke a GOMOR and restore his rank, for example, should never have had to reach the level of the Army Secretary or even War Secretary Hegseth for that matter.
Each time the BCM/NR process fails to provide relief in a way that is universally applicable concerning the provision of relief for punishment in connection to a service member’s objection to the COVID-19 shot, it will take months for a person to navigate the process again. A final decision, following the series of denials and appeals that are certain to happen, might take 18 months or longer to be reached.
For many service members, this means that any assistance they could have received arrives too late to salvage their careers. In Budge’s case, he was just three weeks away from being forced into retirement as a Chief Warrant Officer 3.
Given the possibility of needing thousands, or at least hundreds, of corrections, it is quite evident the BCMR process cannot be regarded as reliable, let alone capable. How much longer will chain of command and BCMR be permitted to uphold adverse determinations on a service member’s objection to an illegal shot? How much longer until Pentagon leadership holds accountable the subversive individuals within?
From the outside looking in, there are solutions that warrant serious consideration. Any scenario that resulted in punishment or negative outcomes under the mandate should be reversed, plain and simple.
Individuals in a service member’s chain of command or BCM/NR process that refuse to comply with the lawful direction they received—knowing the shot is illegal—need to be identified, eliminated, and replaced if they if they cannot align positively with those negatively impacted during the COVID era.
If they thought service members should be discharged for opposing an unlawful mandate, they would have no reason to be shocked if their own ranks or careers were compromised for ignoring War Secretary Hegseth’s order. After all, the consequences of their actions would correspond to their own beliefs.
A task force or committee should be established to review and oversee the BCM/NR process and its outcomes, as the unlawful mandate impacted all service members.
Ultimately, the real solution to this mess is in accountability. The officials ‘We the People’ put in place must hold our civil employees and derelict military officers accountable.
Remember, the voice present here merely summarizes the voices of countless service members and veterans who still believe the military can be restored to the honorable and lethal fighting force War Secretary Hegseth and President Donald Trump demand on behalf of ‘We the People.’ Accountability is where it begins, and trust is where it will favorably conclude.
The post J.M. Phelps: An Ineffective Correction of Records Process is Sidelining War Secretary Hegseth’s Restorative Goals appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.