A former Space Force officer’s objection to the military’s Biden-era COVID-19 vaccine mandate still haunts him over three years later.
WorldNetDaily spoke to Joshua Zermeno, a former officer who dedicated part of his career to space superiority, having served in the U.S. military for 13 years. In August 2021, Zermeno objected to then-Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s military COVID-19 shot mandate, questioning both its “efficacy and legality.” For this, he received two Letters of Reprimand (LORs) and a “Do Not Promote” recommendation that blocked his promotion to major. He was also banned from government buildings and required to work from home.
With his career collapsing in front of him, Zermeno attempted to voluntarily separate from the military in October 2021, but was told his separation was “not in the best interest of the Air Force and Space Force.” In the week following this statement, he said base leadership initiated Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) action against him. Despite the rescission of the COVID-19 shot mandate in January 2023, he was passed over for promotion a second time. Seven months later, he was forced to separate from the military entirely.
Nevertheless, Zermeno would consider returning to Space Force, but has been offered “zero guidance” from the Department of Defense and the Air Force’s Total Force Service Center, which manages Space Force matters.
The former Space Force officer said stories like his are among “the most censored topics globally.” He pointed out, “Many service members and veterans have turned to social media to share their experiences, but censorship limits reach, and account deletions risk erasing these stories.” Even his own X account has been “targeted and tagged with ‘Visibility limited: this Post may violate X’s rules against Hateful Conduct,’ despite its professional content.”
To counter the censorship, Zermeno published “DISOBEYING AN UNLAWFUL ORDER: A SPACE FORCE OFFICER’S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM” in June 2025. It was written “to preserve history of military’s COVID-19 shot mandate permanently,” he said, adding that his desire is for the book to reach current and future military leaders to “study, learn from, and prevent such mistakes from ever happening again.”
He told WND, “Current and future military leaders must understand the mandate’s impact on service members, families, force readiness, and national security to learn from these mistakes.”
In the book, Zermeno reveals:
“This memoir is my raw, unfiltered reckoning: an exposé that dismantles the military’s false narratives, revealing a mandate that crushed free thinkers who dared to question right from wrong. Its brutal side effect was a purge of some of the military’s sharpest minds, leaving shattered lives across every branch through coercion, public shaming and ruthless career destruction. I was one of tens of thousands of individuals purged from service – skilled professionals whose training, experience and institutional knowledge can’t be replaced by new recruits, a loss that weakened our military’s readiness at a time when global threats demand strength.”
According to Zermeno, “The COVID-19 mandate ranks among the gravest errors in military history and must not be forgotten.” He adds, “Service members, force readiness and national security continue to feel its negative impacts,” adding that “the mandate negatively affected tens of thousands of service members – hundreds of thousands including spouses and children.”
Because he continues to advocate for righting the wrongs associated with the mandate, it appears the attacks against Zermeno have not ended. Ten days after publishing his book, his current employer was contacted by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) to initiate a supplemental information request about his eligibility for Top Secret clearance.
He recently wrote about the ordeal on X:
On June 2, 2025, I published a memoir detailing my experience with the DoD’s COVID mandate. On June 12, 2025, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) contacted my employer to initiate a supplemental information request regarding my Top Secret clearance… https://t.co/mymLedcWKo pic.twitter.com/XRri6NJ1Oh
— Joshua (@JoshuaZermeno) June 17, 2025
For Zermeno, the inquiry from the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency is not a coincidence. He continues to wait to hear more from DCSA, as his second career – one that requires Top Secret clearance – hangs in the balance.
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