Major Brandon Oberkamp’s Struggle Highlights Military’s Treatment of Shot Refusers

Major Brandon Oberkamp’s promotion to Lieutenant Colonel was rescinded, and he received a general characterization of service for misconduct after more than two decades of service, simply because he opposed the COVID-19 shot.

This Marine Corps officer’s story reflects a broader issue within the military regarding the treatment of personnel based on their vaccination choices. A memo from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, dated May 7, 2025, emphasized the necessity for careful consideration of claims by service members requesting accommodations related to the COVID-19 shot mandate.

The memo explicitly stated, “The BCM/NRs should carefully consider claims by individuals who filed formal requests for administrative or medical accommodation, including requests for religious accommodation, related to the Department’s previous COVID-19 vaccine mandate, yet continued to serve. Adverse actions in a Service member’s records solely associated with their refusal to take a COVID-19 vaccination or seek an exemption from that COVID-19 vaccine mandate should be removed (emphasis mine).”

What’s more, both President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have emphasized this message numerous times. Still, service members continue to be trampled upon by nothing more than an empty promise and an ongoing fight against bureaucracy.

In 2019, Oberkamp was selected to lead an aviation detachment on a scheduled deployment.

As COVID-19 cases began to emerge in the United States in the beginning of 2020, he recognized the impending challenges ahead. He would reject receiving the experimental COVID-19 shot the same year, even suggesting another commander for the detachment who was willing, qualified, and had received the shot.

This was not an avoidance of duty, but rather the gut-wrenching acknowledgment of the future outcome of going on an overseas deployment without the so-called vaccination, under the current political COVID pressures. He understood that the assignment would impact his mental, emotional, financial, and overall well-being.

In 2021, prior to former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin mandating the shot for the military, Oberkamp conveyed his dissent regarding the administration of the experimental injection to the nation’s Armed Forces in a respectful and diplomatic way.

Service members faced ongoing bullying, belittling, coercion, harassment, and deception regarding the shot, which quickly led to a rise in those receiving it. By August of that same year, the shot became mandatory for all service members.

As the pressure increased to get the shot, and he continued to oppose it, Oberkamp was ridiculed and ostracized by his leadership. He was subsequently overlooked for collateral leadership positions and pushed to the margins, with instructions to remain silent about both the shot requirements and his objection. What command had done here is blur the line between the “vaccinated” and the immunized, as others of all ranks resisted the shot.

Oberkamp didn’t slink away from the fact he was unvaccinated while continuing his duties, even crossing command-imposed boundaries to do so. Due to the established protocols regarding this matter, he was confined to his quarters for a duration of 12 days. Shockingly, he was forced to ask his subordinates to bring him food and water, as he was not offered any meals or drinks, which would be required during quarantine.

This period of isolation was not just a fleeting punishment; it was a weapon that had been wielded against him in the past and continues to be so to this present day.

He was stripped of his command, and when he returned home, in addition to previous charges, he was met with Article 92s Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). This military law deems it a crime to disobey a lawful order, regulation, or assigned duty, particularly in the context of not receiving the shot in this case. Notably, the mandate has since been ruled “unlawful as implemented.”

Relegated to a corner desk, Oberkamp was assigned trivial tasks that seemed to lack any significance. Then, by fall of 2021, he reached his breaking point. With his career in ruins and facing an impending Board of Inquiry, he chose to resign after 22 and a half years of service rather than face additional administrative consequences.

In 2025, fueled by Trump and Hegseth’s commitment to address injustices faced by service members impacted by the shot, he petitioned the Board of Correction for Naval Records (BCNR) to upgrade his characterization of service to honorable. The petition was denied. Are 20-plus years of honorable service meaningless to the Board?

After countless pages of formal documentation for legal proceedings, several attorneys, expenditures in the tens of thousands, and a more favorable political landscape, he believed he would experience relief from the BCNR, but sadly, nothing has changed.

Senior ranking individuals have been allowed to embellish facts in official statements, weaponize medical protocols against him, and have even gone as far as using inadmissible circumstances to prevent a fair hearing. This has cascaded into an irreversible vilification of Oberkamp’s character with no means of recourse.

Time and time again, the BCNR process has been regarded as unreliable and incapable. This ongoing struggle has only compounded his sense of loss, leaving him feeling isolated and disconnected from a world he once cherished.

The whole experience has been immensely painful, inflicting deep wounds on both his personal and professional life. He would like to take pride in the work he devoted his life to. He would like to be present with his friends and colleagues to honor changes of command, retirements, and promotions, instead of coming up with excuses for his absence due to the overwhelming anxiety he feels when around service members and military installations.

Had it not been for the military’s tyrannical mandate, Oberkamp likely would not have found himself in a position of temporary homelessness. He likely wouldn’t have lost his son to suicide, nor would his marriage and home life be in such turmoil. In fact, he wouldn’t even feel the need to feign busyness just to escape the suffocating solitude that now envelops him.

According to his attorney, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Davis Younts, this case is “one of the clearest and most obvious examples of the mistreatment of an officer during the unlawful COVID mandate.” He elaborated, stating, “Other than being a committed Christian and standing by his good faith belief the mandate was unlawful as implemented, [Oberkamp] did not engage in any knowing or intentional misconduct.”

Younts lamented that Oberkamp was “treated like a dangerous criminal and subjected to the kind of treatment that under military law would be considered unlawful pretrial punishment if his case had gone to trial.”

“I was shocked and deeply disappointed at the Board’s failure to grant relief,” he continued, expressing hope that senior officials within the Department of the Navy and the Department of War will step in to rectify what he termed “an injustice.”

As Oberkamp reflects on his situation, he is left to wonder what the future holds for those who dare to speak out against unjust mandates in an institution that once embodied honor and respect. In all its bureaucracy, the BCNR review of his case has failed him. This leaves many questioning the fairness and thoroughness of the process, as it neglects the myriad experiences that shape a person’s military career, integrity, and character.

Although the BCNR functions as an independent administrative review board within the Department of the Navy, the Acting Secretary of the Navy, Hung Cao, possesses ultimate authority over the Board’s decisions and final actions. Will Secretary Cao do what’s right and take action on behalf of Oberkamp when others have failed him?

And once again, it has to be asked: Why will it take the intervention of a senior Pentagon official to get the BCNR to what is just and correct the errors and remove the injustices in the official records of service members such as Oberkamp?

 

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