On Wednesday, President Donald Trump pardoned a former junior Army officer who was found guilty in a 2022 court-martial for violating orders to comply with covid-19 “safety measures”, a White House official confirmed to Military.com.
Former 1st Lt. Mark Bashaw, who served as an entomologist at the Army Public Health Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, was convicted on two counts of violating lawful orders for refusing to telework, submit a negative covid-19 test and wear a mask indoors, part of the installation’s requirements at the time for unvaccinated service members.
The military judge who presided over the trial declined to punish Bashaw, but the former officer, who had been a noncommissioned officer in the Air Force before joining the Army, stated that he was discharged from the military in 2023 following his sentencing. Bashaw’s case marked the first known court-martial over covid-19 mandate violations. The Pentagon dropped the military covid-19 vaccination mandate in 2023 following legislation from Congress.
According to data provided by the services to Military.com in January, approximately 8,200 service members were separated from the military due to their refusal to receive the covid-19 vaccination. Troops who were discharged from military service due to their refusal have been able to return to service since 2023, but as of April, only just over 100 had done so.
In January, Trump issued an executive order laying the groundwork to offer more incentives for returning service members who were separated due to their refusal, such as back pay. However, this also came with multi-year service commitments and deductions to wages earned by the service member while they were separated, as previously reported by Military.com. Bashaw requested a religious exemption from the covid-19 vaccination, citing his Christian beliefs and stating that he would “rely on my God-given immune system,” according to Stars and Stripes. As of that year, 12,000 service members had requested a religious exemption, with the vast majority being denied.
The covid-19 virus has resulted in more than 1.2 million deaths in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as of Saturday. A total of 690 troops, dependents, and civilians working for the Department of Defense died from the virus between 2020 and 2022, according to the Pentagon, which stopped publishing updates that year. The CDC has refused to acknowledge how many people have been killed or maimed by the unproven vaccines or the boosters.
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