Pete Hegseth has done good work at the Department of War.

DEI offices shuttered. Transgender mandates rescinded. The radical social engineering that infected our military under Lloyd Austin is being dismantled.

But there’s a massive failure that nobody’s talking about.

The service members who were discharged for refusing the COVID vaccine — patriots who stood against unlawful orders — are still waiting for reinstatement. Over a year into Trump’s second term.

Ten soldiers. That’s it. Ten people have been reinstated into the Army.

Ten.

The Austin Legacy

Lloyd Austin didn’t just mismanage the military. He weaponized it.

He declared that conservative thought was “extremism” to be “rooted out.” He forced transgender ideology on the ranks. He used Defense Department funds for abortion travel. He purged thousands of service members who refused an experimental vaccine.

Austin’s goal was clear: make the military hostile to morally-minded, America-loving patriots. Create an environment where anyone with traditional values faced daily attacks on their conscience.

To our national detriment, he largely succeeded.

The Trump Promise

President Trump signed an executive order directing the military to right the COVID wrongs.

That was over a year ago.

The promise was clear: service members discharged for refusing unlawful vaccine mandates would be welcomed back. Their records would be corrected. Justice would be done.

Here’s the reality: 10 Army soldiers reinstated. The Air Force is still forcing out leaders who opposed shot mandates — mandates that no longer exist and have been labeled unlawful by the current Secretary of War.

How is this possible?

The Sabotage

Personnel is policy. The people who actually implement orders determine what really happens.

Lloyd Austin’s people are still there. Biden holdovers infest the Pentagon bureaucracy. The same officials who helped fashion Austin’s assault on conscience are now technically working for Hegseth.

And they’re engaging in “malicious compliance and outright disobedience” according to service members trying to navigate the reinstatement process.

Assistant Secretary for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata tweets support for reinstatement. But in practice, his office appears aligned with the holdovers who created the problem.

The bureaucracy is in open rebellion. And Hegseth hasn’t purged them.

The Lone Exception

One Pentagon official gets it.

Hung Cao, Under Secretary of the Navy, signed an apology letter days ago acknowledging that the Navy and Marine Corps “failed those drummed out for refusing unlawful orders.”

One official. One apology. One act of leadership.

Why does Cao stand alone? Why hasn’t Hegseth issued a department-wide apology? Why hasn’t Trump demanded accountability?

Why Veterans Won’t Return

The author of this analysis spoke with fellow veterans who were discharged over the vaccine mandate.

Here’s what they said:

They don’t trust the officers who unlawfully discharged them to treat them fairly if they return.

They would resume service at the same or lesser rank, permanently behind their peers who complied with illegal orders.

The reinstatement process is “an emotional hazing ritual” — an administrative gauntlet designed to humiliate them.

They’ve spent five years rebuilding lives and don’t want to subject their families to military turmoil again.

Without accountability for officers who followed illegal orders, they fear a future Democratic administration will target them again.

These aren’t excuses. These are rational responses to a system that punished them for doing the right thing and hasn’t demonstrated genuine commitment to making it right.

The 90-Day Rule

There’s an old military tradition. When a new commander takes over, defects in the organization become their responsibility after 90 days.

You get three months to start fixing problems. After that, they’re yours.

Hegseth has been Secretary for over a year.

The COVID discharge crisis is no longer Lloyd Austin’s failure. It’s Pete Hegseth’s failure.

The air force continuing to push out vaccine refusers? That’s happening under Hegseth.

The bureaucratic sabotage of reinstatement? That’s continuing under Hegseth.

The holdovers blocking justice? They’re still employed under Hegseth.

The Scalia Principle

Justice Antonin Scalia understood this dynamic.

In his King v. Burwell dissent, he noted that when you see a problem, refuse to remedy it, and enable those who created it — “it is no longer their problem. It is yours by adoption.”

“We should start calling this law SCOTUScare,” Scalia wrote about Obamacare.

By the same logic, we should start calling the ongoing COVID discharge crisis “HegsethCare.”

Not because Hegseth created it. But because he’s failed to fix it despite having the power to do so.

What Needs to Happen

The solution is clear.

Purge the holdovers. Fire every Biden-era official who participated in the COVID mandate enforcement. Replace them with people committed to reinstatement.

Streamline reinstatement. Make it easy, not humiliating. These service members were right. Treat them like heroes, not supplicants.

Restore rank and seniority. Don’t make vaccine refusers start over behind peers who complied with illegal orders. Credit them for the time they would have served.

Hold officers accountable. The commanders who enforced unlawful orders should face consequences. Without accountability, trust cannot be rebuilt.

Apologize department-wide. What Hung Cao did for the Navy should happen across every service. Acknowledge the wrong. Express genuine remorse.

The Broader Lesson

This matters beyond the military.

Trump promised to undo COVID tyranny. The vaccine mandates destroyed careers, divided families, and violated constitutional rights.

If the Pentagon — under direct Trump administration control — can’t reinstate a few thousand service members in over a year, what hope is there for broader COVID accountability?

If Biden holdovers can successfully sabotage reinstatement even with Republicans in charge, what else are they sabotaging?

The military is the test case. Right now, the test is being failed.

The Appeal

The author made a direct appeal to Hegseth:

“I plead with Pete as a fellow brother in Christ, father, patriot, and soldier to dismiss the sooth-saying courtiers in his orbit, and bring the full weight of the war department to bear in getting this right. Make us believe the military can be a just institution again.”

That’s not criticism from an enemy. That’s a fellow veteran begging leadership to do the right thing.

Ten reinstated soldiers in over a year isn’t progress. It’s failure.

The COVID-discharged patriots deserve better. The country deserves better. The military’s reputation demands better.

The Bottom Line

Pete Hegseth has done good things. DEI is gone. Transgender mandates are lifted.

But only 10 COVID-discharged soldiers have been reinstated in over a year.

Lloyd Austin’s people are still in the Pentagon, still sabotaging reinstatement, still punishing patriots who refused unlawful orders.

This isn’t Austin’s failure anymore. It’s been over a year. It’s Hegseth’s.

The service members who stood for conscience, who refused to inject experimental substances into their bodies, who lost careers and livelihoods for doing the right thing — they’re still waiting.

How much longer?