1 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS 

SAN ANGELO DIVISION 

ROBERT SCHELSKE, et al., 

 Plaintiffs, 

 v. 

LLOYD J. AUSTIN, III, 

United States Secretary of Defense, et al., 

 Defendants. 

No. 6:22-cv-0049-H 

DEFENDANTS’ NOTICE OF ADDITIONAL REINSTATEMENT OFFER 

Defendants respectfully submit this notice to provide the Court with an update regarding 

the Army’s obligation, pursuant to this Court’s December 16, 2022, order, to notify the Court 

regarding the separation of any Soldiers based solely on noncompliance with the former 

Department of Defense vaccine mandate when the Soldier had submitted a religious 

accommodation request and was found to have a sincerely held religious belief. 

As outlined in Defendants’ notice of December 29, 2022, following the Court’s order the 

Army implemented several different processes to track Soldier separations, including retrieving 

data from multiple Army databases and distributing the notification order throughout the entire 

active-duty Army via legal channels. ECF No. 82. Despite its good-faith efforts, the capture of 

real-time information was affected by an unfortunately timed brown-out of the Integrated 

Personnel and Pay System-Army, the Army’s primary personnel database, and the large number 

of Soldiers away from the office for the Army’s holiday block leave period.1

 

When the brown-out ended, the Army once again retrieved information contained in its 

databases regarding Soldier separations and identified several separations that required follow1

 Information regarding the four Soldiers previously described to the Court in ECF No. 82 

was collected prior to the beginning of the brown-out. 

Case 6:22-cv-00049-H Document 90 Filed 01/27/23 Page 1 of 3 PageID 2075
2 

up. After communicating with these Soldiers’ units, the Army identified a single Soldier subject 

to the Court’s notification order. While serving in Korea, this Soldier was involuntary separated 

for declining to receive a COVID-19 vaccine after his request for accommodation was denied. 

The separation action was approved by the separation authority on October 13, 2022. The Soldier 

left Korea on November 16, 2022, and was on terminal leave from that point forward. His 

official discharge date was January 14, 2023. 

On January 20, 2023, the Secretary of the Army authorized an offer of reinstatement for 

this Soldier. The Army began attempting to contact the Soldier to offer reinstatement shortly 

thereafter, making attempts by telephone to the Soldier, by telephone to the Soldier’s parents’ 

home, and by social media communications. After several attempts, the Soldier responded to a 

social media message and arranged to speak with the unit by phone on the evening of January 26, 

2023, but the Soldier failed to call the unit and did not answer his phone when the unit attempted 

repeatedly to call him. The unit plans to send him the reinstatement offer via a certified mail. 

* * *

   

Case 6:22-cv-00049-H Document 90 Filed 01/27/23 Page 2 of 3 PageID 2076
3 

Dated: January 27, 2023 Respectfully submitted, 

BRIAN M. BOYNTON 

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General 

ALEXANDER K. HAAS 

Branch Director 

ANTHONY J. COPPOLINO 

Deputy Branch Director 

 /s/ Johnny Walker 

KERI BERMAN 

JOHNNY H. WALKER (D.C. Bar #991325) 

Trial Attorneys 

United States Department of Justice 

Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch 

1100 L Street NW, Rm. 12304 

Washington, D.C. 20530 

Tel.: (202) 514-3183 / Fax: (202) 616-8460 

Email: johnny.h.walker@usdoj.gov 

Counsel for Defendants

Case 6:22-cv-00049-H Document 90 Filed 01/27/23 Page 3 of 3 PageID 2077