Yeah, the same BS happened during Operation Desert Shield. Most were in
the National Guard units and they objected because they thought they
weren't allowed to be deployed outside of the US unless war was actually
declared and that their recruiters had mislead them (I bet this did
happen to some extent!). To the best of my knowledge the anti-war groups
and the media, for a couple of days, made too much of the whole thing.
From what I recall the number of people that objected was small, VERY
small. 500,000 troops deployed so if even 1000 objected (and I doubt it
was more than a few dozen!) the % would have been so tiny it wouldn't
even register as significant. Well, except to those who have nothing
better to blow it out of proportion...
Note these conscientious objector groups don't use numbers. A
"significant" increase could mean 4 people called their offices this
month instead of the usual 1. So personally I don't think this is
anything we need to worry about. Like any large group of human beings,
there will ALWAYS be a bunch trying to duck out of their responsibilities
in order to get a free ride.
I expect that even less people, percentage wise, are trying to duck out
of the service now than during the Gulf War. In 1990 the US was not
attacked so it is understandable that some people didn't feel that the US
should be involved. This time it is VERY different.
Steve
>Just had to post this to the list, what the heck
>do they think the military does??????
>
>SargeTom (MSG)Army Reserves
>
>Active Duty 'Conscientious Objectors' On The Rise
>By Michael Betsch
>CNSNews.com Editorial Assistant
>October 17, 2001
>
>(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.
>
>The reality, he said, is that a "significant
>number of youth either ignore
>or don't really think that deeply about," the
>combat aspect of the military.
>
>
>
>
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Dec 07 2001 - 00:36:27 PST