Sincerity

The hardest part of the three CO standards to meet is probably sincerity. That's not because you aren't sincere. It's because proving that you're sincere can be very hard. But if you look at it another way, the military will have just as hard a time proving that you're not sincere.

And that's just what they have to do. Once you've made a CO claim that appears to meet the standards (a so-called "prima facie case"), it's up to the military to grant or deny your claim. If they deny it, they can't just turn you down. They have to give a reason, and their reason has to be based on evidence that you don't meet one of the standards. Often this means they have to show that you're not sincere.

You can go far toward convincing the military that you're sincere by preparing a good CO application and submitting strong reference letters with it. And processing for discharge or transfer includes three interviews--with a psychiatrist (or medical officer if no psychiatrist is available), a chaplain, and a specially-appointed investigating officer--where you can show your sincerity. Processing Your CO Claim discusses the CO application process in detail.

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