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The U.S. Naval Academy (USNA) confirmed Thursday that it denied all religious accommodation requests to the COVID-19 vaccine from midshipmen, but it also said that congressional complaints that current unvaccinated students have had their diplomas withheld are not accurate. The confirmation on vaccination exemptions came after Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., and a handful of other Republican lawmakers sent a letter to Naval Vice Adm. Sean Buck on Tuesday that demanded information on how many exemptions had been granted by the USNA.

A group of House Republicans is probing the Navy after uncovering evidence that the US Naval Academy (USNA) is keeping midshipmen from graduating if they sought religious accommodations to the Pentagon’s COVID vaccine mandate. In a letter to Naval Vice Adm. Sean Buck Tuesday, lawmakers led by Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., said denying diplomas to otherwise qualified midshipmen is a waste of the country’s four-year investment in those people and will hurt military readiness at a time when all service branches are having trouble with recruitment and retention.

In the wake of 9/11, President George W. Bush addressed the Nation saying: “I have a message for our military: Be ready. I’ve called the Armed Forces to alert, and there is a reason. The hour is coming when America will act, and you will make us proud.” The President’s call for all able-bodied men and women to fight against terrorism jumpstarted my story as a veteran. I never had a desire to serve in the military, but during my time in law school at the University of Florida, two planes hit the Twin Towers and everything changed. I felt that this moment was my generation’s call to serve our country and that those who were able to fight shouldn’t stand by.