War on Terror Prompts Utahn to Bail Out of Military
BY DAWN HOUSE THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
In the outrage over the terrorist attacks last year, one U.S. Army instructor boasted of violent fantasies about what he would like to do to terrorists and entire nations that harbor them. That outburst was the beginning of a philosophical journey that led a Salt Lake County man to become a conscientious objector and terminate his four-year Army stint. Wes Sudbury, 25, a Hillcrest High School graduate, said that before his military service, "I didn't think much beyond my own hometown." He enlisted two years ago to gain job skills in electronics and computers, and hoped to cash in on generous military benefits after his discharge to attend college.
He was stationed in Germany when he decided to opt out. When he turned in his application for conscientious objector status last spring, he had no idea how Army brass or his military buddies would react. "The platoon sergeant wanted me to stay on in electronics, but I said I didn't want to. I didn't want to support the Army's mission, so they put me on janitorial cleanup," Sudbury said from his father's Midvale home this week, days after his discharge from the Army. "There wasn't a lot of harassment, and my unit treated me OK."
Sudbury, who describes himself as an agnostic, had to prove he had a "firm, fixed and sincere objection to war in any form or the bearing of arms." The U.S. bombing of Afghanistan crystallized his growing realization that he was opposed to war. He contacted the Utah congressional delegation when a commander went against regulations by not putting recommendations into writing and when the discharge date was delayed. Sudbury repaid $3,500 in training costs, and was discharged in about six months. Anti-war activists say the process can take from six months to longer than a year.
Volunteers who counsel soldiers report an increase in the number of questions from military personnel who suddenly find themselves facing the possibility of going to war. The GI Rights Hotline (800-394-9544) answered 17,000 calls nationwide last year, up from 14,000 the year before. "We've seen a noticeable increase in calls from reservists and GIs in the National Guard because of all the activation and deployments," said Teresa Panepinto, GI Rights program coordinator. "The second increase in calls is from active service members." Sponsors of the GI Rights Hotline include the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors, based in Oakland, Calif.; American Friends Service Committee, Cambridge, Mass.; Center on Conscience & War, Washington, D.C.; Quaker House of Fayetteville, N.C.; and War Resisters League, based in New York City.
A spokesman for the Pentagon said fewer than two dozen personnel in America's all-volunteer military were granted conscientious objector status last year. "Out of the 1.4 million active military and 1.3 million reservists and National Guard, that isn't even a blip," the spokesman said. "We don't usually track the information because it's like a needle in a haystack." Applying for objector status does not create a legal defense for disobeying an order, according to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Commanders, however, are encouraged to assign applicants duties to minimize any conflict. Circumstances usually vary widely with each unit's mission, location and individual commanders, according to the Pentagon. "I am not unpatriotic and I am not a pacifist," Sudbury said. "I do not believe the U.S. government has this country's best interests in mind. Because of that, I would only defend my family and friends if our freedom or liberty were threatened. This is not about killing, it is about whether I believe in war, about me taking up arms to attack others. I do not believe in war." Sudbury said he was influenced by George Washington's warnings against foreign entanglements, the Francis Ford Coppola movie "Apocalypse Now," Henry David Thoreau's essay "Civil Disobedience" and the teachings of Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of aikido, a Japanese martial art. Ueshiba said the true spirit of aikido is bringing violence into a state of harmony. Sudbury quotes him: "Warlike activity is totally out of place." GI Rights Hotline volunteer Sam Diener said counseling Sudbury gave him "hope for the capacity for all of us to change." "It's easy to fall into an 'us' and 'them' thinking," Diener said. "But Wes is proof that an individual can move from a belief in the military to a conviction that nonviolence is the best way toward moving in a peaceful direction." The first conscientious objectors in America were recognized in 1661 when Massachusetts became the first colony to exempt religious pacifists, such as Quakers, from militia service. When the first federal draft was enacted during the Civil War, Congress exempted objectors who were members of religious groups.
The 1940 draft law was broadened from church membership to "religious training and belief." In 1970, the Supreme Court expanded exemptions by defining objectors as "all those whose consciences, spurred by deeply held moral, ethical or religious beliefs, would give them no rest or peace if they allowed themselves to become part of an instrument of war." The last draft ended in 1971. Military personnel who volunteered may apply for objector status. In some cases, applicants may ask for a transfer to a noncombatant status, although the military is prohibited from offering noncombatant status as a compromise to discharge. Conscientious objectors granted an honorable or general discharge may receive veterans benefits that their prior military status and length of service entitles them to.
11/4/02