EXCLUSIVE: Inside The ‘Penal Platoon’ Hell Marines Found Themselves In After Refusing COVID Jab

One moment he was refusing the COVID vaccine, the next, Marine Cruz Marquis suddenly found himself placed in a “penal platoon” for his commitment to individual liberty.

“This isn’t a story about me,” Marquis told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an exclusive interview. “This isn’t a story about any particular individuals who defied a government order. In my mind, this is about a slice of life, a slice of what the state was able to do and what they were able to get away with during the pandemic. This story, though it may be reported, is just the tip of the iceberg of what kind of repression the state was able to reap during the COVID pandemic.”

The Biden administration imposed a military-wide COVID-19 vaccine mandate in 2021, forcing service members to choose between receiving the shot or risking disciplinary action and separation. Thousands were ultimately discharged for refusing the vaccine, and Marquis says his refusal carried consequences that went far beyond simply ending his Marine Corps career.

Marquis was assigned to Lima Company at the School of Infantry-West at Camp Pendleton when he refused the COVID-19 vaccine. He was later transferred to the school’s Legal and Separations Platoon while being processed out of the Marine Corps, a unit Marquis described as a “penal platoon.”

“There was an enormous number of junior Marines who stated at the very beginning that they were looking to deny the COVID shot in direct violation of orders from the president,” Marquis told the DCNF. “It was enormous, I tell you.”

SOI-West’s Separations Platoon serves as a holding unit for Marines awaiting completion of the administrative separation process, according to the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps confirmed to the DCNF that Marquis was assigned to SOI-West and later separated from the school, but did not clarify whether that referred to his discharge from the Marine Corps or simply his separation from SOI-West.

The military later began unwinding some of those penalties. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January 2025 that allowed service members who were discharged solely for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine to seek reinstatement at their former rank with full back pay, benefits and other compensation. Despite those efforts, former service members affected by the mandate continue fighting over discharges, military records, lost benefits and other consequences stemming from their refusal to take the vaccine.

‘I’ll Always Remember That Day’

The Marine Corps made refusal costly. Its mandatory vaccination order declared the requirement a lawful general order and said violations could be punished under Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Marines without an approved or pending exemption were later ordered into administrative separation proceedings.

Marquis formally rejected the COVID vaccine on Oct. 5, 2021.