Comments on: Running from the Military Police

By: Ben Anderson

Ben Anderson — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 00:24:37 +0000

This is very interesting. I was not raised in a home that valued CO. My father was in the Navy and always looked down on my mothers brother in law for being an objector. I was always told that being a CO for moral reasons was just a cover up and they really were cowards. As I have grown older I have come to believe, through my study of they Bible and my maturity as a Christian, that CO is the biblical think to do. I believe that for myself and for all christians that taking part in violence is unbiblical and completely contradictary to our call as believers. But I have always had the question what is a country supposed to do? How would a country defend itself and remain in existence without a military? I also know christians you see it as their duty to take part in military service (although I do believe that with spiritual maturity they will change and I have also seen it happen). But I would be interested in hearing some of your responses about how a contry would and could operate with out a millitary defense.

By: Update on conscientious objector Agustin Aguayo » Young Anabaptist Radicals

Update on conscientious objector Agustin Aguayo » Young Anabaptist Radicals — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 01:41:07 +0000

[…] Back in September, Michael wrote about Agustin Aguayo here on YAR. Today Agustin was found guilty of desertion in a US military court in Würzburg, despite 3 years of attempting to get out of military service as a conscientious objector. According to the Independent, “He faces up to seven years in prison, a dishonourable discharge and loss of pay.” This development is the latest in a very long struggle for Agustin, so please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. […]

By: Michael J. Sharp

Michael J. Sharp — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 21:51:38 +0000

I’m going to try to answer this fairly loaded question as succinctly as possible. The first thing I’d like to say is that applying for conscientious objection or any other discharge is in no way breaking a contract. In the same way that Donald Rumsfeld has the right, according to the contract, to extend soldiers’ terms indefinitely (via stop-loss) during a time of war, so too does a soldier have the right to certain early discharges under certain conditions.

As far as the CO discharge, even the Department of Defense recognizes the transformational power of war. People change when they see dead civilians; people change when they see friends get shot; people change when they shoot other human beings. As Anabaptists, I think most of us would suggest that if people knew what war was really like, they wouldn’t want to participate in it. Volunteer soldiers who become conscientious objectors are a great testament to this fact.

It’s easy for us (or at least it was for me), as people who grew up being taught that war wasn’t a good way to go about solving problems, to say, “Look, you’re either a CO or you aren’t - it’s pretty clear.” I’ve found, however, that if you happen to grow up in a family that teaches you that serving God and serving country are the same thing, you might not have ever considered that war might be wrong. It’s second nature to us, but it hasn’t even been considered by others.

Even if there wasn’t a legal or contractual basis for conscientious objection, and even if it were a dishonorable thing to refuse to deploy, one still has to decide which is the bigger mistake: participating in a war that you know is wrong or choosing not to honor a written agreement that you have made. I’d personally rather have the latter on my conscience than the former. The point is mute, though, considering that military regulations specifically allow for such a discharge.

The other thing to point out is that none of these discharges, especially not the CO discharge, are an easy way out. Agustin is a great example of this, in that he struggled for over two and a half years only to be denied at every turn. During this time, he was ridiculed and belittled by many of those around him. Agustin was deployed to Iraq for a year, during which time he didn’t load his gun. If you think that made him any friends among his colleagues, you’re crazy. You don’t do something like that for your health. You do it because you believe it’s absolutely the right thing to do. As one CO put it, “Not only is conscientious objection an honorable discharge, it’s the only honorable one.”

I could seriously write about this all night, but I’ll stop, hoping that I’ve answered your question by now.

By: Jeremy Yoder

Jeremy Yoder — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 04:02:02 +0000

Awesome story, MJ. It’s awfully encouraging to hear about concrete war resistance efforts, especially since I’m not exactly in regular touch with other Mennos at this point (the ethnic melting pot that is Moscow, Idaho somehow lacks an Anabaptist congregation). I’d like to hear more about your thoughts on doing this kind of thing with an all-volunteer army: I can see a non-pacifist (warifist? violencist?) arguing that you’re helping people break a contract they’ve signed of their own free will - to what degree is it the responsibility of CO’s to come to that position before they enlist?