[Peace-discuss] Re: [Peace] International Conscientious Objectors
Day, May 15, 2008..G. Oleson
C. G. Estabrook
galliher at uiuc.edu
Mon May 12 10:46:16 CDT 2008
You should mention this on "AWARE on the Air" tomorrow.
---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 09:41:45 -0500 (CDT)
>From: Karen Medina <kmedina at uiuc.edu>
>Subject: [Peace] International Conscientious Objectors Day, May 15, 2008..G. Oleson
>To: "Peace-discuss List" <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>, "Peace List" <peace at lists.chambana.net>
>
>May 15, 2008 is Conscientious Objectors Day.
>
>Below is information on how to become a CO. Share the information. The information is in the form of a testimony letter from a Vietnam Vet who became a CO.
>
>---- Original message ----
>> Greetings,
>>
>> On January 1, 1970, I resigned my commission as an
>> artillery officer in the New Hampshire National
>> Guard as a conscientious objector after I heard of
>> the My Lai 4 massacre in Vietnam. Soldiers who wore
>> uniforms like mine committed the most horrendous
>> atrocities imaginable in the name of "freedom",
>> "democracy", and "liberation."
>>
>> I realized than that I could no longer in good
>> conscience be associated with people like Lt.
>> William Calley, Capt. Ernest Medina, or Major Colin
>> Powell otherwise I would be identifying with them.
>> And isn't just the idea of war...the premeditated
>> murder of fellow human beings an atrocity?
>>
>> That decision...38 years ago...was a turning point
>> in my life...and refusing "to study war no more" was
>> the very best decision I've ever made. The Army
>> refused to accept my resignation as a conscientious
>> objector; I just refused to attend drills or summer
>> camp. In the spring of 1973 I received an honorable
>> discharge in the mail.
>>
>> In 2008 during a time which the United States is
>> once again engaged in an illegal, immoral, and
>> terrible war, young people of draft age, i.e., 18 to
>> 36, or soldiers already serving in the military must
>> search their hearts and minds and souls and clarify
>> for themselves what they truly believe about life
>> and death and truth and deceit and goodness and evil
>> and their immortal souls and what it means to be a
>> human being.
>>
>> Rumors of a military draft are abroad in the land
>> again. No one can predict whether or not the
>> military draft will be reinstated. Will there be
>> another terrorist attack on the United States? It
>> seems inevitable.
>>
>> And now according to congressional testimony the
>> military is accepting thousands of recruits who are
>> unfit for combat or have been convicted of felonies.
>> Many soldiers are being sent back to Iraq even
>> though they suffer from PTSD.
>>
>> For those who feel that based on conscientious
>> beliefs, they oppose the systematic killing of their
>> fellow human beings today would be a good day to
>> start specifying those beliefs. To be acknowledged
>> by the Selective Service System as a conscientious
>> objector (CO), a person must by reason of religious,
>> moral, or ethical grounds be conscientiously opposed
>> to war in any form. The depth and sincerity of
>> one's beliefs...not a religious affiliation..are
>> what really matters in getting a CO exemption.
>>
>> A person applying for CO status will be asked to
>> answer very specific questions including the
>> following:
>>
>> Describe the beliefs which are the basis for your
>> claim as a CO. Describe how you acquired these
>> beliefs. Describe how your beliefs affect the way
>> you live and the type of work you do.
>> My advice to a CO would be to prepare now in case
>> of a draft by writing a statement of beliefs that
>> explain the why, how, when, where, etc., of your
>> becoming a CO. List specific things that could have
>> influenced your beliefs about war and killing, such
>> as religion, films, books, events you have attended,
>> etc. Find three or more people you know very well
>> who can attest to your beliefs and be willing to
>> write letters on your behalf supporting your beliefs
>> as a CO. It is very important that you build a paper
>> trail and document everything that lead to your
>> decision not to go to war.
>>
>> For a person already in the military who has had a
>> change of heart/mind regarding war, I suggest
>> calling the inter-organizational GI Rights Hotline
>> at 1-800-394-9544. I would highly suggest that
>> anyone planning on filing CO status to contact the
>> Center on Conscience and War at
>> www.centeronconscience.org, the Central Committee
>> for Conscientious Objectors at www.objector.org, and
>> www.peace-out.com, the website started by Maine's
>> own Perry O'Brien who got discharged from the U.S.
>> Army as a CO in 2004.
>>
>> On International Conscientious Objector Day, let
>> us honor the thousands of conscientious objectors
>> to war from 1776 to 2008 and remember what John F.
>> Kennedy once said,"War will exist until that distant
>> day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same
>> reputation and prestige that the warrior does
>> today."
>>
>> Peace to you and yours,
>>
>> Reverend Gerald Oleson, Former 2nd Lieutenant, New
>> Hampshire National Guard
>> Sunny Corner Ministries
>> 73 1/2 Court Street
>> Bangor, Maine 04401
>> 207-947-2970
>> 1 John 4:16
>>
>> Pace e Bene,
>>
>> Reverend Gerald Oleson
>> Sunny Corner Ministries
>> 73 1/2 Court Street
>> Bangor, Maine 04401
>> 207-947-2970
>> 1 John 4:16
>> "A church which cannot take a firm stand against war
>> is a church which does not deserve to be
>> believed."--Harvey Cox, American Baptist theologian
>> at Harvard Divinity School"
>>
>> “We're not made by God to mass kill one another,
>> and that's backed up by the Gospels. Lying and war
>> are always associated. Pay attention to war-makers
>> when they try to defend their current war: if
>> they’re moving their lips they're lying.”--Phil
>> Berrigan
>> To care for a thing as if it were a thing is
>> reality,
>>
>> To care for a thing as if it was a person is
>> illusion.
>>
>> To care for a person as if he or she was a thing is
>> violence,
>>
>> To care for a person as if he or she was a person is
>> justice,
>>
>> And to care for a person as if he or she was
>> yourself is love."--Fr. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy
>>
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