Letter to the Judge and Counsel on the Proposed Settlement — U.S. Navy SEALs 1-26 v. Biden (Dkt. 307)

Summary

A letter to the Judge and Counsel on the proposed settlement in U.S. Navy SEALs 1-26 v. Biden, Document 307, filed 07/18/24, signed James c. Harrod. The writer says the settlement amount should be higher and bases that view on a personal experience with a COVID vaccine religious exemption. The letter describes verbal harassment after the exemption was submitted, pressure from the chain of command not to request captain's mast, and a first official day as a civilian on April 1, 2022 after 20 years in the military. It also says it took roughly almost 2 years to find a job and asks that the letter help the Judge make an informed decision.

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Case 4:21-cv-01236-O Document 307 Filed 07/18/24 Page1of4 PagelD 84

U S HIS

Dear Judge and Counsel,

Hello, my name is James, and I believe the amount should be higher than what it
currently is But then again that’s going off of my personal experience with the Covid
vaccine religious exemption. In my experience with the religious exemption being
submitted, I was verbally harassed on multiple occasions during the entire time until |
basically force retired out of the military. It was a daily occurrence by either individuals
that I worked with same rank or lower, or by my upper chain of command to the point
where it was causing me a lot of undue stress to myself and my family due to the
uncertainty of what the situation would bring in the future. In one instance, I had a
senior chief somewhat in my chain of command to the fact they got moved to a
different building before the incident happened due to a promotion to senior chief
pull me aside but only after voicing very loudly in front of my peers that I fucked up
multiple times, but they did not say as to how only that my decisions were keeping
them up at night. They told me that they did not give a flying fuck about my religious
exemption and I should just get the shot because the first shot is just a placebo and
that I should do my research because if | don’t get it, | am screwing over my family and
I’m jeopardizing anything that I will get in the future by not getting the shot now. |
informed the individual that I had submitted a religious exemption, and I was waiting
to hear the response back from religious exemption before making any decisions for °
them to reiterate again that they did not give a fuck about my religious exemption.
Prior to me being forced to of retire due to denial of exemption I told the command
that if needed to I would request Captains mast, there are two versions you have a
negative and a positive. The negative one is obviously you got in trouble so you have
to see the Capt. The positive one is when you requested to talk to the captain with no
negative effects, but my command all the way up to the Director at my immediate
chain of command basically informed me that if I request captains mast that more
than likely, I have an extremely high chance of losing any guarantees and or benefits of
possible retirement if I was to talk to the CO and they also informed me that the CO
was recently selected for rear admiral lower half and by me requesting captains mast
to basically talk to him was going to delay him actually being promoted to Admiral. So
due to the pressure of my chain command, I decided not to request captains mas.
During this entire process, I was talking with Base legal and they informed me that if
any paperwork came to them in regards to me being administratively separated, that |
will go to the bottom of the list for cases due to being so close to 20 years of active
Case 4:21-cv-01236-O Document 307 Filed 07/18/24 Page 2of4 PagelD 8430

duty service and that they did not feel it was right to be administratively separated
instead of being able to retire with 20 years of service. my first official day as a civilian
after 20 years in the military was April 1, 2022. On April 1, 2022. The deputy Director
called me to inform me that there is an instruction that came out on the 30th. I believe
it was around like 2359 or around that timeframe but it was on the 30th and they did
not see it until the 31st 12 or noon, now on the 31st at noon I was still active duty. The
command waited a whole 24 hours after the message was read by the command and
12 hours after | was out to call me and asked me if I wanted to stay in, how can | stay in
if I’m already out. It is my belief that the only reason they called me is because I had
sent a picture and a text to the individuals that | worked with in group chat of me
smoking a joint as a civilian on April 1 and it is my belief that they basically wanted me
to say that I wanted to come back in so that then they “randomly” drug test me and
then it kicked me out and actually lose all my guarantees and or benefits. If | was not
forced to retire from the Navy and I had picked up the next rank that would’ve been
over an $800 difference a month and pay due to my time in and my time in the current
rank that I was, I was supposed to be in for 22 years under contract timeframe if | had
picked up, I would’ve been taking that extra pay and putting that into my thrift savings
plan for retirement I also could have extended my contract out to 24 years instead of
22 years if I had picked up the following rank, which means I would’ve had an extra
800 plus a month for four years instead of two that’s if I did not pick up the next,
which would’ve been if | had picked up E-7 in 2022 I would’ve been eligible for E-8
within three years. It took me roughly almost 2 years to find a job due to the fact that
everybody still wanted you to have the Covid vaccine including contractors. I even
applied for a contractor job at the School House. I think it was a year maybe a little bit
longer just to see if everything had died down as far as any complications with the
command, I was informed by a friend of mine that worked there that the command
had a lot of hate and animosity towards me from the upper chain of command due to
the way that I got out of the navy, which is ironic because I followed the black and
white paperwork that they told me I had to follow and by following it they have issues
with me. The fact of the matter is the Navy had instructions that they put out that the
commands were supposed to follow, but the commands did not follow them because
the procedures that were written in the instructions, gave them a layout and or
timeline of when they were supposed to have individuals sign the page 13 in regards to
getting the vaccine or not getting the vaccine. My command and maybe others I don’t
know. Had me sign a page 13 weeks and or months in advance of even talking to
anybody in regards to religious exemption and or even medical exemption and when |
brought this up, it was more. i’m writing this letter in the hopes that I will help you
Case 4:21-cv-01236-O Document 307 Filed 07/18/24 Page3of4 PagelD 8431

make an informed decision and maybe even help other veterans that feel betrayed by
the government and the military family that they served with this entire ordeal has
increased medical complications for myself to the point where I was even diagnosed
as being a diabetic. Since that timeframe I’ve been working on my health and trying to
forget the entire ordeal.

Very respectfully

James c. Harrod


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