Conscientious Objector- The New American Hero

Sample Application and information for the Conscientious Objector

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
C TROOP 1ST SQUADRON, 1ST UNITED STATES CAVALRY REGIMENT MEMORANDUM FOR THE COMMANDER, C-TROOP 1-1 CAVALRY

SUBJECT: Request for status as Conscientious Objector (1-0).

1. I have become a conscientious objector. It is against my moral and religious beliefs to take human life under any circumstances; I am opposed to war in any form. As long as I live, I will never attempt to kill another living person. I am seeking classification as a conscientious objector (1-0) and separation from the Army.

2. I understand that (as stated in 2-10 of AR 600-43) until a final decision is made, I am to be employed in duties providing minimal conflict with my beliefs. Furthermore, I understand that I will continue to train except in the study, use, or handling of ammunition, weapons, and munitions.

1. An express, specific statement as to whether the person requests classification as a conscientious objector 1-0, or as a conscientious objector 1-A-0.

I, XXXXXXX, request status as a conscientious objector (1-0).

2. A description of the nature of the belief that requires the person to seek separation from the military service for reasons of conscience.

It is against my moral and religious beliefs to destroy human life or take part in any form of war.

3. An explanation as to how beliefs changed or developed, to include an explanation as to what factors caused the change in or development of conscientious objection beliefs.

The first time in my life that I witnessed death was on January 20th, 2004.

I was gunning on an up armored HMMWV. As we prepared to RP the main gate to Camp Slayer, our base of operations, I spied something in the road and yelled down to the driver of the vehicle to be aware of it as it might very well have been an IED. As we passed by we saw it to be a dead body laying in the road. There had been a lot of shooting that night so we all supposed he was a victim of some local feud.

Upon closer examination he was found to be quite dead but with no sign of any bullet wounds. The only things on him were a few bruises and tread marks that matched the tires on our HMMWVs. This man was unarmed, he had been run over by American soldiers and left to die.

On February 20th, 2004 I again found myself gunning on an up armored HMMWV when we came across an 82nd Airborne infantry platoon that had just fought through an ambush. According to them, they had been attacked with small arms fire from both sides of the road, and they in turn had returned fire in both directions.

We talked with them a while and helped secure the area while they called it up.

Before long It was discovered that one source of the firing had indeed been enemy insurgents, while the other source was a wedding party.

It is a common tradition for people in Baghdad to celebrate weddings by firing rifles and other firearms into the air, these people just happened to be celebrating a wedding at the same time as the 82nd patrol was ambushed.

There was no sign of enemy casualties, however we discovered three civilians who had been wounded in the ensuing firefight. A young girl had been shot in the leg, a middle aged man was wounded in the arm, and another younger girl had been killed, all as a result of firing from American soldiers. After the 82nd reported the incident to their chain of command we simply continued our patrol and nothing much was ever said of this incident again.

On March 1st, 2004 I was on a patrol in Baghdad that came under small arms fire from one or two insurgents as we entered the local ICDC compound. I was gunning in the trail HMMWV, I identified where the firing was coming from and returned fire, the enemy firing stopped immediately and nothing more became of it, the incident was never reported. This was a major turning point in my life, I was thoroughly repulsed by what I had done and prayed that I would never have to try to kill a fellow human being again.

I witnessed many sad and terrible things during my time in Iraq, but these three are the most relevant to my claim as a conscientious objector.

In Iraq I hated everything, I hated the air that I breathed, the food that I ate, the rifle that I carried; I was disgusted by my own reflection.

I saw and did things there that should never be viewed as acceptable by civilized people. I have been shot at, I have been mortared, I have destroyed the livelihood of innocent people, I have seen men rejoice in the torment of other men. As I recall these unfortunate events I find myself disgusted and ashamed. I pray that I may never live to endure such things again.

AR 600-43Application 2-1Appendix B
b. Training and Belief (continued).

4. An explanation as to when these beliefs became incompatible with military service:

I decided to seek Conscientious Objector status during this past gunnery of Jan-Feb 05. I no longer wished to take any part in combat operations. I found everything we trained for to be personally, morally, and religiously offensive and became extremely disturbed at times as I watched targets being engaged through my periscopes in the drivers station of my vehicle.

In all actuality, these inanimate targets represented human life, which is not meant to be destroyed so carelessly, and with so much naive enthusiasm. I realized that I could never return to a combat zone and perform the duties which that circumstance would require. I would only be a hindrance to the Armys mission and unreliable in combat, quite possibly causing the unnecessary deaths of other soldiers.

5. An explanation as to the circumstances, if any, under which the person believes in the use of force, and to what extent, under any foreseeable circumstances.

There are no circumstances under which I would employ the use of deadly force.

6. An explanation as to what in the persons life most conspicuously demonstrates the consistency and depths of his beliefs.

Though I am opposed to war in all it’s forms I have continued to honor my contract with the military by not refusing to wear the uniform, performing all of my required duties (to include driving a distinguished tank at gunnery), and refusing to desert the Army or be absent without leave.

I have also chosen not to use drugs and alcohol to escape the realities of my situation as an alarming number of my peers in this Squadron have done.

I have a history of positive counseling statements and have always done my best to help train new soldiers and teach them what I have learned while deployed to improve their chances of survival. My actions speak for themselves; I am a man of high moral character, my beliefs are bona fide.

7. An explanation as to how the applicants daily life has changed as a result of their beliefs and what future action he plans to continue to support his beliefs.

Every day I spend in the military is pure misery. I am disgusted each time I enter my vehicle or handle or view weapons as they are cruel instruments of death. In the future I will continue my chosen life of non-violence for as long as I may live.

AR 600-43Application 2-1Appendix B
c. Participation in organizations.

1. Information as to whether the person has ever been a member of a military organization or establishment before entering his present term of service:

I was never a member of any military organization or establishment before joining the Army.

2. A statement as to whether the person is a member of a religious sect or organization:

I am not a member of a religious sect or organization. Organized religion is the greatest killer in the world and the source of historys cruelest atrocities.

3. A description of the applicants relationships with and activities in all organizations with which he is or has been affiliated, other than military, political, or labor organizations.

I am affiliated with no such organizations, nor have I ever been.

d. References.
Any more information that the person desires to be considered by the authority reviewing his application. Letters of reference or official statements of organizations to which the applicant belongs or refers in his application are included. The burden is on the applicant to obtain and forward such information.

1. Memorandum from CPT XXXX (Squadron Chaplain).

2. Personal Statement.

Statement of Conscientious Objection:

March 21, 2005

My moral and religious beliefs have become incompatible with military service. I can no longer continue to train as a combat soldier, nor can I remain in the service of an organization that exists for the sole purpose of destroying human life. I know myself to be a conscientious objector and therefore must request separation from the United States Army.

I joined the military in May of 2003, eager to fight in the Iraq War which had so recently begun.

In October of that year I was deployed to Iraq where I participated in countless mounted and dismounted combat operations until our return to Germany in July of 2004.

While in Iraq I was involved in a number of minor combat incidents and on one occasion did fire my weapon with the intent to kill.

At that moment my conscious was profoundly altered by the devastating realities of human mortality. Ive seen people and animals lying dead in the streets and experienced first hand the horrifying toll that war inflicts on living things; I was in a constant state of mental and emotional decay while deployed to Iraq. At the time I felt I could pull through and ride out the time left on my military contract, even though I was beginning to doubt my abilities as a combat soldier.

During this past gunnery of January and February 2005 I drove for two tank crews, one of which fired distinguished, I engaged in MOUT training, marksmanship training with both M16 and M9, and other types of weapons familiarization. Through all of this I found myself feeling disgusted and extremely uncomfortable with what we were training to do, how could God ever be expected to condone such cruelty, such vile inhumanity? I knew then that I would never kill another human being and could never be expected to return to combat and perform in any manner which would be beneficial to the military.

I can no longer allow myself to hide these feelings from my chain of command; I have a responsibility to both the military and my country to let the truth be known. I have always lived my life by the laws and principles that were so boldly forged by our forefathers centuries ago, and it is my deep admiration for the democratic traditions of the United States of America, and my dedication to the ideal of human decency that demand that I speak out. I have become a conscientious objector, I am opposed to war of any kind, and I will never again attempt to take human life or aid others in doing the same.

I am not simply seeking a quick way out of military service, I am well aware that this is a long process, one in which deceivers will find little opportunity for success. I assure you that I am sincere. The Army teaches its soldiers to always take the hard right over the easy wrong, which is exactly what I am doing.

There are those who remain skeptical of my claims; I am thought of by some of my superiors as a liar, an idiot, and a coward.

They and those who think alike are entitled to their beliefs, just as I am entitled to mine. If only they knew how much honesty, intelligence and courage it takes to pursue such beliefs, thus enduring the persecution and hatred of such a multitude of nay sayers.

My actions in the past and at present have well proven that I am not a coward, for a coward will never do what he believes to be right when those around him say that he is wrong, he will simply be bullied into submission. I expect that none of us would have found ourselves in disagreement with Abraham Lincoln when he said, To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.

I will not be a slave to the laws of man, while the laws of God are held to no account. I intend to live my own life in a way which will affirm the lives of others, not destroy them. I will rejoice in life; never again will I revel in the so called glory and honor of war.

Comment By ArchAngel:

After making the request for Co, this Soldier has been harassed by members of his command.

Just last week, his 1St Sgt. called him a ’piece of shit’ and a ’little bitch’, screaming at the top of his lungs in front of a dozen or so other Soldiers and NCO’s during PT.

The Soldier had gotten offended and yelled back at him "Who are you calling a Bitch?!" and "You can’t call me a bitch 1St. Sgt."

Those were his exact words. After the confrontation, he was taken into the 1St. Sgt.’s office where he and his platoon sergeant threatened to have a court martial brought against him for disrespecting a senior NCO.

Then his PSG, who was standing behind him, closed the door, and they both mocked him and talked to each other about how they would misconstrue what had happened and twist various facts so that they could stop his packet and throw him in jail.

Afterwards, the 1st Sgt. grinned and laughed at him telling him he was going to bring a court martial against him so that he could see that his packet was stopped.

Such words were said in that effect. Then the 1st Sgt went on to say that he would call his investigation officer and see to it that his interview, set for the following morning, was canceled.

The Soldier, asked if his 1st Sgt. has the power to do that at such short notice?

ArchAngel doesn’t see how, and also believe that this so called 1st Sgt. had no right to disrespect him in such a way that he did in front of others. I understand that you must respect your NCO’s and ranks above, but how do you respect a NCO, or in this case a 1st Sgt. who doesn’t respect you bye calling you names in front of a platoon? In order to get respect you first must give it.

There is more to this story, but what we are talking about here is a Soldier applying for CO. A Soldier like so many other who has seen things that we Americans back home hope to never see.

There are hundreds of CO applications that have been applied for, and accepted, but there are also many that haven’t, because of selfishness and down right stupidity of their leaders.

A lot of these Soldiers have seen and even were forced to do wrong, and are regretting it now and will most likely regret it for the rest of their lives.

Just because a Soldier suddenly finds God, and finds that what he and his fellow troops have done to be wrong and can no longer pull the trigger on a weapon again to cause death, he should not be called a coward, chicken, or in this case a BITCH

In cases such, they should be called heroes because they are fighting for what they believe, and not some lie that they were told.

We are aware that there are those who use the CO just to get out, but then again, who are we or the government to say that is the real reason. Soldiers are not robots, they have a heart, and they know what the difference is between right and wrong.

Isn’t denying a Soldier’s request for CO wrong because he believes in the rules of God or any other religious beliefs? I should think it is because if you think about it, we can go back to the Constitution, which this war is supposedly being fought for.

The first amendment guarantees freedom of worship....If this is true, then why are Soldiers getting their CO request denied?

Just what kind of Constitution are we supporting if our own government does not follow it?

I say, let this Soldier and other CO applicants be granted so that they may live their lives in peace.

The information that I have found on Conscientious Objection came from the GI Hotline web site www.girights.org or you can call them at 1-800-394-9544.

also see
www.objector.org

http://www.militaryproject.org/article.asp?id=615