Accounts differ in unvaccinated Coast Guard cadet departures

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Coast Guard Academy officials and a lawyer for several cadets are disputing each other's accounts of what happened to seven students before and after they were forced to leave the Connecticut campus last month after refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The New London academy said in a statement Thursday that school officials helped the seven cadets make travel arrangements and “funded travel to the location of their choice.” Officials also said all seven cadets are living in safe locations, either having returned to their families or staying with families of other cadets.

The statement contradicted comments made earlier this week by Michael Rose, a lawyer for several of the cadets. Rose told The Day newspaper that school officials did not help the students with travel arrangements, did not give them any money for travel and that one of the cadets was forced to live in his truck because he is estranged from his family.

The academy disenrolled the seven cadets last month for failing to comply with the military’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate, after their requests for religious exemptions were denied earlier this year. The cadets, whose names have not been released, were required to leave the campus by Aug. 19.

Cmdr. Krystyn Pecora, an academy spokesperson, acknowledged later Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press that the academy did not give the cadets travel funds before they left campus, but rather will reimburse them later when the cadets file their expenses, per the school's general travel expense policy.

Pecora also said officials were surprised to learn about the cadet who Rose said was forced to live in his truck, saying the student told officials he would be living with a fellow cadet's family.

Rose said the student...