A former Maine National Guardsman was hit with faulty accusations of being a “domestic extremist” and pushed out of his job for not taking the COVID-19 vaccine, with the state organization defying a federal correction order to reinstate him.

Maj. Michael Gary was likely the first U.S. service member to preemptively apply for a religious accommodation for the COVID-19 vaccine in December 2020, over a year before Reserve and National Guard members were expected to be vaccinated.

“Nobody has corrected me on this. I believe I’m the first guy in the nation to submit a religious exemption in the COVID era,” he told Breitbart News on Monday. “Mine was December 1 of 2020, before the shot came out.”

According to Gary, his chain of command in the Maine Army National Guard (MEARNG) was “all about” protecting his First Amendment rights when he first applied for an exemption. 

“They supported me 100 percent… And then, of course, the shot came out, and over time, my chain of command soured on me.”

His military career spanning over 20 years and his Active Guard Reserve (AGR) position became jeopardized by several shocking allegations against him, as detailed by the Army Board for Correction of Military Record (ABCMR). 

Gary was labeled “a bully, a government time waster, a domestic extremist, a COVID-19 conspiracy theorist, interferer of the presidential election, and much more,” the ABCMR’s record of proceedings, shared with Breitbart News, states.

“He was eventually separated for refusing the vaccine, despite the fact that these accusations were baseless and the MEARNG persisted in retaliating against him,” the records continued. 

On March 21, 2022, Gary received a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand (GOMOR) for his alleged misconduct, leading him to receive notification of his involuntary release from full-time MEARNG for undermining the military’s policy on vaccinations. 

In May of that year, his commanding general approved his separation with an honorable discharge and determined that the GOMOR should be placed permanently in his personnel record. 

“So they made up a bunch of false allegations… one was that I interfered in the 2020 election,” Gary explained. “So, yes, it was highly political.”

He later enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves (USAR) to stay in the military, but that move did not come with the full-time pay that he was previously receiving to support his four children. While he currently still serves in the USAR at the rank of major, he wants what he is owed. 

“So I’ve survived as a part-timer this whole time, and it’s been miserable because I had a very damaged career from those couple years,” Gary said, noting that he was supposed to be up for a promotion while the fraudulent investigation was ongoing. 

The ABCMR actually sided with him, with the majority of board members concluding that he provided enough evidence to prove “an injustice occurred in the administrative procedures of issuing him a GOMOR for vaccination refusal.”

“Obviously the Board found correctly that I was innocent,” the major said. “The Maine Army Guard continued to retaliate against me, and they have like 1,000-plus very detailed documents, witness statements, affidavits, [and] character references from low-level enlisted people to high-ranks, all vouching for my character and the authenticity of my story.”

As Gary detailed in a November letter to War Secretary Pete Hegseth, the ABCMR’s decision was ignored and “unauthorized and repeatedly falsified documents continue[d] to appear” in his permanent record, even after their removal was ordered.

According to the National Guard Bureau (NGB) General Counsel, “Decisions from the boards of correction are only advisory on the States.”

Gary shared this on X, along with a statute showing that ignoring decisions from the Board is illegal:

Under 10 U.S.C. § 1552, the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR/ARBA) acts on behalf of the Secretary of the Army, and its decisions are final and binding on all Army components, including the National Guard and State TAGs.

ABCMR decisions are not recommendations, not discretionary, and not optional for States. The State’s role is execution, not refusal or re-adjudication.

Back in September, Hegseth took notice of Gary’s plight and responded to the GOMOR finally being removed from his record:

“Every day we are working to undo the wrongs of the unlawful COVID Vax Mandate,” he wrote. “Much more to be done, but we won’t stop.”

Gary has also sent a letter to President Donald Trump asking for help. 

Still, he has not received the help he deserves.

“There’s all these leaders, bureaucrats, people in positions of authority that broke the law and they broke the regulations — they know it, and they can’t allow us to come back because it makes them guilty,” he said. “And if there’s ever to be accountability, it would be a big deal. I don’t think there’s ever going to be accountability.”

MEARNG also attempted to take away his security clearance, which he successfully fought.

Now, despite having 27 years in the military, the major said he is “financially destroyed” because of what happened. 

Gary’s story looks similar to that of Brigadier General Christopher Sage’s, in which the Air Force’s correctional board also sided in his favor in a COVID-related investigation before it was overturned in a rare decision by a Pentagon official. 

While Hegseth has met with service members to work on achieving the Trump administration’s goal of reinstating those who were forcefully separated from the military for refusing the vaccine, both men are examples of the stories who have fallen through the cracks and might never see justice. 

“If he takes care of my little situation here in the Maine Army Guard, perhaps the other states will pay attention, and shake up, and not do the same things like the Maine Army Guard has done to me,” Gary said. 

Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.