Negative Decision

Compromise

There are a lot of compromises you can make after your request has been turned down. Sometimes a person is offered a noncombatant job--even one far from a combat zone--by a commanding officer. If your conscience can accept this, it may work out all right, especially if you have only a short time left before your normal discharge date. But the longer you have left to stay in, the greater your chance that the officer who arranged the job might be transferred. Or you might be transferred. Then you'd have to decide again what to do. Your cooperation up to this point might make the military and a civilian court doubt your sincerity.

If you object to combatant duty only and you are steadfast in your position, the odds are you will sooner or later be given some kind of noncombatant status (or discharge). But there's no guarantee. The military wants everyone "available for world-wide assignment," which means they may try to pressure you into accepting combatant duty. And you still might spend some time locked up. Many people have been court-martialled, sometimes more than once, for refusing to pick up and use weapons, even though they were willing to accept noncombatant duty. In most cases, such people were finally either classified as noncombatants, or a "gentleman's agreement" was worked out and they were given noncombatant positions without official recognition. But in at least one case an objector to combatant duty was court-martialled and sentenced to three years hard labor and a Dishonorable Discharge for failing to secure his weapon as ordered.

If your conscience can accept nothing but a discharge, you are not in a position to make a compromise--unless, perhaps, it is one which you feel will lead to a quick discharge.

New Application

A number of people have had to submit second applications before gaining CO status. However, it is very difficult to get a second application approved. If...

• you had applied for transfer but now your beliefs have strengthened or changed so that now you have to apply for discharge; or
• you had to refuse orders because of your beliefs or have given some other strong evidence or steadfastness; or
• your first application was not a clear statement of your beliefs and you can write a much better one now; or
• your original position has not changed, but since you submitted your application your beliefs have strengthened because of further exposure to the workings of the military; or because
• you have joined a church or re-established contact with your earlier one; or
• some of your colleagues, perhaps even your NCOs and officers, have become convinced enough of your sincerity that they're willing to write supporting letters

...and you don't mind going through the whole process again, consider submitting a new application.

If you do decide to submit a second application, make sure it is the best application you can prepare at the time. Get counseling, and have your counselor read your first application. Of course, the new application should specifically counter the reason given by the military for denying the first, and if your first application was for noncombatant status and this is for discharge, it should show how your beliefs have changed. Otherwise, the new claim should be a development from the first one, rather than appearing to contradict points made earlier.

Along with the new application, submit a cover letter which lists the ways in which the new application differs from the earlier one. Some of these might be:

• it's more obviously based on moral, ethical, or religious belief;
• it includes the official position of your church on conscientious objection;
• it's for 1-O rather than 1-A-O or vice-versa;
• it contains more specific indications of how your beliefs developed after you entered the military (and after you submitted your first application);
• it presents new evidence of actions and behavior which demonstrate the depth and consistency of your beliefs;
• it includes new supporting letters;
• you've had an offer of alternative service type work when you return to civilian life.

Your second application may or may not be accepted for processing. The DoD Directive says commanding officers may return, without action, second applications which are based upon essentially the same evidence as the previous application. But the DoD does not tell at which level of command this decision is to be made. Any new application must be processed if it is not based upon mostly the same grounds, or supported by about the same evidence, as a first application. People whose second applications are accepted for processing should be given the same kinds of assignment and duties as first-time applicants.

If your first application was not handled right, you can try to get a commanding officer, chaplain, or other official to help you get it processed. Talk with your counselor about whether filing a complaint is a good idea.

Boards for Correction

There's a Board for Correction of Military Records for the Army, one for the Navy and Marine Corps, one for the Air Force and one for the Coast Guard. Acting upon the recommendation of the Board, the Secretary of each Service "may correct any record of that military department when he considers it necessary to correct an error or remove an injustice." (10 U.S. Code 1552(a)) Application to a Board for Correction of Records is not a very practical remedy in most cases. It often takes two years or more before the Board makes its decision, and during that time, you may be reassigned, you are not exempt from combatant duties, and you must comply with all orders. If you're in the inactive Reserves, however, it can be worth a try.

Habeas Corpus

By far the most effective way of fighting a denial of a CO claim has been to seek "habeas corpus" relief in federal court. A "writ of habeas corpus" is an order from a court to a person who is illegally holding another in any form of "custody." It orders that the person detained be brought before the court to receive whatever remedy is ordered by the court. This is a common way for a person to get out of illegal confinement. In the case of Brown v McNamara the civilian court decided that civilian federal courts have the power to:

• review whether the military has followed proper procedural due process;
• determine whether the military has a "basis in fact" to deny the discharge; and

Although effective, habeas corpus action is potentially very expensive because you nearly always have to hire a lawyer to represent you. Contact the GI Rights Hotline for more information.

Resistance

If you refuse to cooperate with the military after you have tried everything or because you can't continue to follow orders or process your claim through administrative channels, you may face court-martial. Or the military may try to punish you in other ways, some of them illegal. Many different things can happen, and you can't predict in any particular case.

Resisting the Military discusses noncooperation in more detail.

Other Discharges

If you've been denied discharge as a CO, you can still apply for and receive discharge on other grounds. Other Discharges discusses other discharges.