-Caveat Lector- Asalamu'alaikum,
Active Duty 'Conscientious Objectors' On The Rise By Michael Betsch CNSNews.com Editorial Assistant October 17, 2001 http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPentagon.asp?Page=/Pentagon/archive/200110/PEN20011017a.html (CNSNews.com) - An increasing number of U.S. military personnel who enlisted prior to Operation Enduring Freedom are now seeking conscientious objector status, claiming they were misled by their local recruiter and military advertising, according to groups that assist people in obtaining conscientious objector status. Many of the enlisted personnel who are now seeking honorable discharges argue they didn't sign up to defend America; they just wanted to learn a trade or earn money for college. Those seeking discharges based on conscientious objections to the current war on terrorism and military action in Afghanistan insist that military advertising failed to present the reality of military conflict, focusing instead on money for college, job training, leadership and disciplinary aspects of the military. Bill Galvin, a counseling coordinator at the Center On Conscience and War, said his organization has seen "a significant increase" in military personnel who claim to be conscientious objectors since the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon. Galvin defines the term conscientious objector as those "who would identify moral or ethical qualms about being in the military or being a part of war." All conscientious objectors must explain what happened since they joined the military that would now cause them to say they can't do this, said Galvin, who provided anecdotal information about a rise in the number of active duty military personnel now seeking discharges based on conscience. He claimed that recruiters paint an attractive portrait of patriotism for potential recruits and "play up the training or the money for college. They don't play up fighting, because that's not what gets people to join." Others who work with conscientious objectors agree that military recruiting ads that downplay or ignore the inherent violence in military action have an air of deception. "There's very little in military advertising that talks about combat, that talks about killing, that talks about fear, loneliness and all of that stuff. It's not there," said Titus Peachey, a director of peace education for the Mennonite Central Committee U.S. According to Peachey, potential recruits, many of whom are teenagers, "are at a very vulnerable age" when they meet with military recruiters that visit high school campuses. He added that the teens are lured into military life by the "sharp uniforms" worn by recruiters and the "very attractive packages" offered by the military. Peachey said he's counseled a number of military men and women who've called the G.I. Rights Hotline seeking assistance with applying for and receiving conscientious objector status. They enlisted, Peachey said, only because they felt the military "seemed like the way out," of their pre-enlistment lives, and an easy way to get an education and a job without considering the reality of war. "It seems logical that a high school kid would think about the possibility of fighting in a war," during a time of hostilities, he said. But in peacetime, war is "the farthest thing from their minds." Army spokesman Lt. Col. Ryan Yantis said such arguments are thin. "It's made very clear to every recruit when they come in through the recruiting and enlistment process that they're joining the Army," said Yantis. Those who enlist or receive commissions from the Army "are grown-ups who are making adult decisions," said Yantis, who also said he was not aware of a particular increase in the number of Army personnel seeing discharges because they object to war. But sometimes, grown-ups make "mistakes," Galvin commented. "We get lots of calls from people who are just in their training status saying, 'what did I get myself into?'" According to Yantis, recruits claiming to be conscientious objectors fail to recognize that their situation is nothing new, and he said medics and other conscientious objectors in non-combatant roles have historically been a "benefit of the military." Yantis also said it would be "disingenuous," for a soldier to say, "'Oh, I joined up to be an infantryman. I never knew that that meant I might have to go to war.'" He bolstered his argument by saying there's little mistaking the words and meaning of the oath that military personnel take upon being sworn into the armed forces. Among other things in the oath, military personnel promise to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic." Another Army public affairs spokesperson, who asked to not be identified, said, "Anybody who has ever joined the military at least ought to have it in the back of the mind that at all times we could go to war, that there's never a guaranteed peace." Now that the U.S. is actively engaged in military operations, Peachey said he thinks potential recruits "might think more than once," about the prospect of fighting in a war. 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