Mark Bashaw, the only member of the Armed Forces to be court-martialed for refusing to take the COVID shot, has been reinstated to the U.S. Army, promoted as if he'd never been discharged, and awarded back pay. Making the victory sweeter is the fact that he was prosecuted by none other than current Virginia congressman, then Colonel Yevgeny Semyonovich Vindman, the brother of Lieutenant Colonel Aleksandr Semyonovich Vindman, of Trump impeachment fame.
Bashaw, a former USAF noncommissioned officer, had been commissioned into the Army's Medical Service Corps and was stationed at Aberdeen Proving Ground. He was charged in February 2022 with three counts of “failure to obey lawful orders.”
He’s charged with refusing an order to telework and showing up to Aberdeen Proving Ground “after failing to submit a negative COVID-19 test or [submit]” to a test, [Aberdeen Proving Ground spokesperson] Nappi said. The installation requires that unvaccinated personnel submit a negative test result before entering their worksites, according to its website.
Bashaw also is charged with allegedly refusing to leave and “wrongfully remaining at his place of duty” after his failure to get tested, according to Nappi.
The officer is also charged with refusing to wear a mask while indoors, Nappi added. All Aberdeen Proving Ground troops are required to wear masks indoors regardless of their vaccination status.
He was convicted by a special court-martial (here "special" refers to one of the three types of court-martial—summary, special, and general—it does not refer to the offense) in May. He was only convicted of two charges; he was acquitted of the refusal to wear a mask indoors. The judge did not fine Bashaw or sentence him to confinement, but did dismiss him from the service. The volume of questions on why Bashaw received nothing at court-martial that couldn't have been meted out by administrative process forced Aberdeen to issue a rather bizarre comment: “Receiving no punishment at a court-martial is not without precedent." But no precedent was provided.
His prosecutor wanted everyone to know how happy he was that he'd booted a father of three out of the Army on totally bulls*** charges. Because if you can't get noticed by the right people by being a suck-up, what does it matter?
Proud of the prosecution team at Aberdeen Proving Ground. Secured a first in the nation conviction at court-martial of a lieutenant who failed to obey lawful orders re COVID mitigation measures. Guilty on all 3 counts. #orderanddiscipline
— Eugene Vindman (@YVindman) April 29, 2022
MAJOR GENERAL ROBERT EDMONSON II., Senior Mission Commander, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland did this with the help of his Staff Judge Advocate, COL (Retired) YEVGENY EUGENE VINDMAN. https://t.co/939p4rRLEP pic.twitter.com/XofcaV0Os3
— Mark Charles Bashaw (@MCBashaw) December 6, 2023
On January 27, 2025, President Trump ordered reinstatement be made "available to all members of the military (active and reserve) who were discharged solely for refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and who request to be reinstated;" see Reinstating Service Members Discharged Under the Military's COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate.
The road hasn't been easy. At every turn, the bureaucratic beast that runs the Armed Forces has fought tooth and nail. Instead of full restitution of pay and allowances, people applying for reinstatement have been told that any money they earned while discharged would be subtracted from what was owed. To get Bashaw reinstated, the personal intervention of the Under Secretary of War for Personnel and Readiness was required.
UPDATE: @USArmy is engaging @KevinBouren & @MCBashaw to help resolve "last mile" concerns.@DeptofWar efforts to solve problems aren’t always public, but they are happening. We’re making steady progress on the reinstatement process, other remedies & task force creation.
— Under Secretary of War Anthony J. Tata (@USW_PR_HONTata) October 23, 2025
This tweet by retired Warrant Officer Sam Shoemate, the go-to guy for information on reinstatements, says it all.
I spoke to him. You sure lit a fire under their ass to get him taken care of. The problem is that it shouldn’t take the Undersecretary of the DOW to get that done.
— Shoe (@samosaur) October 24, 2025
But justice was served.
UPDATE:
— Mark Charles Bashaw (@MCBashaw) October 24, 2025
Thank you sir!
Full reinstatement granted — retroactively promoted to Captain, with a Date of Rank: 13 December 2021, and no break in service.
Orders are being issued for me to report for Active Duty on 01 November 2025, following an unlawful discharge, court-martial,… https://t.co/3Q0rVitDDG pic.twitter.com/OKR8iqKsCa
The promotion keeps Bashaw aligned with his peers in date of rank.
To date, only three or four people have been restored to active duty in the nine months since President Trump so ordered.
This is only the first step. He was deprived of five years of experience, and somewhere out there is a closeted Joe Biden supporter and Branch Covidian just waiting to ruin his career.
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