Choosing

Although noncombatants serve in many military jobs, ranging from chaplain's assistant to clerk, most of them are medics. So in deciding whether you should apply for discharge or for noncombatant status, you need to think about what the military medical services do. And you need to think about whether you can help the military in any job, not just whether you can be a medic.

It's easy to get tangled up on this issue. Military officials may urge you to apply for l-A-O status. After all, they say, what you really object to is killing--and as a noncombatant you won't have to kill anyone. That's perfectly true. But the real issue you have to think about is whether your conscience can accept any military duty at all. Noncombatants are part of the military, and they all, in some way, contribute toward its mission. There's nothing startling about that. If you worked in a factory, you would be part of a work force whose every member contributed toward the mission of the factory. It's the same with the military.

As a clerk, for instance, you might have to handle orders which send other people off to combat. As a chaplain's assistant, you might have to counsel with people, and it might be your job to help them accept the killing that's part of their job. Or you might even be ordered, while unarmed yourself, to supervise rifle practice; this actually happened to one noncombatant. Many COs can accept and perform duties like these because they're willing to serve in the military but object to personally killing. But if you think you couldn't, you should apply for discharge.

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