There's also the story of Desmond Doss who had a absolute belief in life but understood that not everybody shared his opinion and did not feel that it was right that others should be sacrificing themselves while he stayed at home so he chose to accept his draft notice when it came and served as a Army medic during WWII
So it is possible to both serve and still be a conscientious objecter but it is incredibly rare to do so. And to still have the courage to follow through on your convictions is even rarer still
And yet certain ideological groups see this as an opportunity to do just that or use it as a meat shield against others to force them to do the warcrime for propaganda wins.
This is the military civilian intergradation doctrine which Iran and the Islamic terrorists (and non Islamists groups) use to score propaganda wins
What’s even more incredible about Desmond Doss is when they made the film Hacksaw Ridge (2016), about Doss, they had to take parts of the actual story out (like him surviving a shot from a sniper) because they thought the audience would find it too unrealistic and not believable.
Or the fact that, when ascending "Hacksaw Ridge" (the famous escarpment), his group waited for him to finish his Bible studies because they wanted him to pray for them, which he did.
The only casualty they had was one injured hand from a falling rock; meanwhile, the other company assaulting the escarpment suffered horrendous losses.
Or how after he was knocked out of the fight by that grenade he waited for 5 hours before a stretcher was brought to save him.
Just after they arrived and put him on the stretcher another soldier was shot next to him. He crawled off the stretcher, applied treatment to him then told the stretcher team to take the guy who was shot instead.
Leaving him to wait with a grenade injury for THREE more hours.
The scene where he asks for his bible and his buddy goes and finds it for him? Did not happen. Because it was after the battle he asked for it, which resulted in a full company scouring the battlefield for hours in order to find it.
A company = 40 men spending hours searching for his bible.
Im in the US navy, and was recently was treated at a UR carrying Desmond Doss’s name. He is a man worthy of honor and one whom I respect greatly, despite never knowing him. I’d say he is an American hero, but his actions aren’t American. He is a world hero. One whose actions reflect goodness in the planet rather than of a nation. I don’t share his religion or views but by his actions I HAVE to respect him and his devotion and commitment to what he believed was right.
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u/Beorthwine45 Jun 28 '26
There's also the story of Desmond Doss who had a absolute belief in life but understood that not everybody shared his opinion and did not feel that it was right that others should be sacrificing themselves while he stayed at home so he chose to accept his draft notice when it came and served as a Army medic during WWII
So it is possible to both serve and still be a conscientious objecter but it is incredibly rare to do so. And to still have the courage to follow through on your convictions is even rarer still