[Peace] International Conscientious Objectors Day, May 15, 2008..G. Oleson

[Karen Medina]

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
>