Free Republic

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...

On May 29, 2025, President Donald J. Trump issued a full and unconditional pardon to First Lieutenant Mark Bashaw -- the only service member in U.S. military history court-martialed for refusing to comply with unlawful COVID-19 mandates. It was a long-overdue act of justice, but a pardon, while powerful, doesn’t come close to honoring the enormity of what this man endured -- or what he represents. Mark Bashaw was never a criminal. He was never disloyal. He was a principled officer who stood on the Constitution, federal law, and his faith, and for that, the U.S. Army tried to destroy...