How can l get transfer to a non-combative unit? [Army]?

Question

I joinsed the Army 8 mo. ago, they sent me to Iraq as soon as l finished basic training, l realized that l'm a conscientious objector. [refuse to kill based on my religious believes]
so I submit the application to ger discharged from the Army based on that, but now I feel like l want to stay if l get transfer to a non combative unit any where in Cal, Nev, or Utah, I dont even Nkow if there is any army posts there. I dont want to say anything couse thay might think that l'm faking it, i'dont even say anything couse it might be used against me, should I request to get transfer before they give me a response o should l wait... ? what if it's to late? and they say "you 're out" l need advice, what should l do? if l was back in the States l would hire a lawyer but here in Iraq... is there any Army posts in those 3 States? l was told that if l get discharged i would not be elegible to reenlist, any ideas?
thanks.

Answer 1

Im not sure the army is the right choice for you i am in the 4-319 airborne out of bamberg germany. what MOS did you choose the first time. try the BEAR program and pick water purification or something like that. you are gonna have to be a soldier but it should reduce the risk. ps you can sign up for BEAR 2 years out from ETS

Answer 2

(1) You haven't specified your MOS. Recommendations are limited if you don't specify that, since no one can determine if you're qualified for a specific duty station.

(2) If you had pre-existing religious convictions that precluded taking another life even in self-defense, then you enlisted fraudulently. You will be chaptered on those grounds after UCMJ action. You are a disgrace to the uniform.

(3) The chances of the Army spending money on you to reclass you and send you to AIT all over again, not to mention pay the costs of your relocation, are next to nothing. Why should the service throw good money after bad?

(4) There is an active duty installation in California - Fort Irwin, near Bakersfield, home of 11th ACR, which is a deploying unit. There are none in Utah or Nevada.

(5) The best thing for you to do is get hold of your convictions. If you want to stay, then you must be willing to take another life in self-defense - which contradicts your religious convictions and your claim to be a pacifist. That makes you a malingerer. Since you've already submitted the application, for you to ditch the process blacklists you even more.

I say you should serve the remainder of your tour, or however long your Chain of Command dictates you serve, and you should just leave. If you were in my infantry company, you would get enough motivation to depart, forcefully, until there was no doubt in your weak mind that not only did you betray the service and those around you, you did so out of indecision and selfishness even before you reached the unit. Shame on you.

I hope you get chaptered and never come back in. Go live with your disgrace and its consequences.

Answer 3

I am going to try and be a little civil here even though I think you are way past the point of having an epiphany about killing people. I had a guy in my unit try this before we deployed to Iraq and all he got was a bunch of s*&t from everyone. Needless to say, you probably don't have the ability to prove conscientous objection. You raised your right hand just like everyone else. They also carefully worded that oath to keep situations like this from popping up by the way.

Legally, no Army or government official on earth is going to let you get out as a conscientous objector because it will set a dangerous precedent for everyone who wants to get out of Iraq as a "convert" to some chicken **** religion. I hate to say it but you are stuck. You can put in a request for a transfer stateside to Ft. Irwin CA but that wont go through until you redeploy. Just do me a favor and don't get anyone in your unit killed by not returning fire.

Answer 4

Serve your tour. When it's up, you can put in a request for another post, and if you reenlist, you'll probably get your first or second choice. If you get stationed at Fort Lewis (Washington State), and you're pinpointed for I Corps, they're a pogue unit, and you don't have to worry about being deployed unless there are no other available units.
Places to avoid: Germany (high deployability), Fort Bragg (North Carolina), and Fort Campbell (Tennessee/Kentucky). Fort Lee may or may not be deployed.
Yes, there is a post (actually, I think there's two) in California, but they spend a lot of time out in the field. I don't know about Utah or Nevada. Colorado has a post, and from what I hear, they don't deploy often.
I commend you that you don't want to use violence, but you chose the wrong career for that. The purpose of the military is to protect US citizens from all enemies, domestic and foreign, and to go where your Commander-in-Chief sends you. If that conflicts with your beliefs, I'm sorry. But only a crazy person would actually delight in killing.
Do your job, and either request a different post after re-enlisting, or don't re-enlist. Even if you don't re-enlist, you can still be re-activated for at least three years (if you signed up for a three-year contract).

Answer 5

I recommend you put on a skirt and sit at a typewriter you fairy! How stupid are you! Why did you join the military, whose sole reason is to kill people and break things, if you are a conscientious objector? Or did you recently obtain this status once you figured out that you could actually get hurt in the military. Back in Vietnam where there were actually conscientious objectors due to the draft and due to the fact that they were cowards, they were made medics and personnel clerks and didn't have to carry a weapon. In today's all volunteer military, not so much. Maybe you should have come to your cathartic realization before you signed on the line.

Answer 6

Let me get this straight, in 8 months you decided that you are a conscientious objector? Sounds like the real deal is you wanted all the benefits of being in the Army without any of the risks. Just get out of the Army and hang your head in shame for not completing a promise that you made 8 months ago. There is no place in the military for someone like you.

Answer 7

Did you not realise when you joined that we were involved in two wars in the Middle East, and that there was a better than very good chance that you would be sent to one of those fronts? The time to be a conscientious objector was before you signed up, not after you got sent to the front.

Answer 8

First and foremost, I doubt that you were sent to Iraq right out of basic training. Secondly, just what didn't you understand about joining the ARMED service? Third, even clerks, cooks, and mechanics are in harms way. There are no non-combative jobs in the Army. Combat arms and combat support.

Me thinks you are a hoser and have no clue what you are talking about. Isn't it time to catch the bus and head off to school?

Answer 9

then join the salvation army,are you truly a conscientious objector, or is it a case of cowardice , i just find it strange that anyone with strong religious beliefs about killing would join the army , so its all right for you friends to go off and risk their lives,just as long as you are safe at home.. hell i served 9 yrs in the British army and if you had been in my regiment ,i would have shot you, get out of the army and leave it to the men and women who are prepared to fight ,die and kill for their comrades, because you don't deserve to be apart of that .

Answer 10

If you did not claim you were a concsincious objector when you joined, you may have to get backing from a psychiatrist and religious fiure to verify your claims. If you get discharged for cause, you cannot reenlist. Why would you want to? The military is for those whose conscience allows them to fight for thier country when necessary and when told to, they obey all legal orders. Seems to me you're not even a "sunshine patriot", willing only to fight if it involves invasion of the U.S.