Now things are getting complicated—the U.S. Marines and sailors are actively launching so-called "intra-military dissent."
Mike Prysner, Executive Director of the Center on Conscience & War and a retired U.S. Army veteran and anti-war activist, revealed in an interview that service members from the 31st Expeditionary Unit and those aboard warships en route to the Middle East are submitting emergency applications for "conscientious objection" (Conscientious Objector) in an effort to prevent deployment to potential conflict with Iran.
Conscientious objectors are military personnel who, due to personal conscience or religious beliefs, seek exemption from military service obligations. This concept only exists within conscription systems, not in volunteer or mercenary forces.
If granted, these individuals would be assigned to civilian service roles rather than frontline combat duties.
Even if their applications are denied, they might still choose to raise their weapons just one centimeter higher during actual combat—refusing to fire.
Trump is indeed the Commander-in-Chief of all branches of the military, but there's a crucial difference between soldiers and mercenaries: soldiers have the right to submit conscientious objection applications.
The implications here are significant: if they were mercenaries, there would be no such thing as "conscientious objection," and once battle turns unfavorable, mercenaries would simply flee. They fight solely for money, not for medals.
These service members submitting emergency conscientious objection applications are acting to reject fighting and dying in a war initiated by Trump, unwilling to die for Israel and be carried home in a body bag. This should be the primary motivation behind this wave of applications.
This phenomenon poses a far greater threat to U.S. military morale than mere anti-war public opinion polls.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1860882686003275/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.