During a rally in North Carolina on Wednesday, Donald Trump vowed to rehire every member of the military who was fired for refusing to take the Covid vaccine and to give them backpay–and an apology–from the federal government.

"Kamala and Crooked Joe purged 8,000 service members from our military for refusing their COVID vaccine mandate. They refused to do it. We didn't want a mandate. The mandate, you can't, you just can't do that," Trump told supporters during the campaign stop in Asheboro.

He then vowed to the audience, "I will rehire every patriot who was fired from the military with an apology and with back pay. They will get their back pay and an apology from our government. Kamala and Crooked Joe purged."

The Biden-Harris administration instituted vaccine mandates for every employee of the federal government, including military personal and servicemembers were discharged for refusing the vaccination even on medical or regligious grounds. As of October 2023, only 43 out of the total 8,000 military members that were discharged have rejoined the military, according to the Washington Examiner. Several groups have sued the Biden-Harris administration over the mandates, arguing that they were unconstitutional.

During the speech, Trump said that he intends to tell "Comrade Kamala Harris" that she is fired come November. He also made other remarks regarding the state of the military under the Biden-Harris administration. 

“Thanks to Comrade Kamala and Joe Biden, morale in our military is now so low that almost every single branch is suffering a major recruitment and retention crisis,” the GOP nominee said during his remarks. “Upon taking office, I will begin the biggest peacetime recruitment drive in the history of armed forces."

Trump called for bringing back a "sense of pride and prestige" in the United States miliary and called for the mass resignations of officials who oversaw the botched Afghanistan withdrawl, where 13 American servicemembers were killed in a suicide bombing. “I will ask for the resignations of every single senior military official who touched the Afghanistan disaster,” he remarked. “I want their resignations immediately.”