Refuse to Go

I read with great interest Stacia Brown’s article on conscientious objectors in the military (“Valor, Honor, Conscience,” September-October 2006). One sentence, however, sent chills up my spine: “So although he deployed to Iraq as ordered, [Jason] Webb would not carry a working weapon on patrols.”

I commend Webb for his conscientious objector stand, but I wonder if his comrades were aware that Webb was endangering their lives. Soldiers depend on one another for protection, and Webb was intentionally unable to provide such protection. Their lives were placed in jeopardy. I wish Webb had stated his objection to war, refused to go to Iraq, and accepted the consequences of his refusal. By doing what he did, he made it all about himself. I hope other COs simply refuse to go rather than refuse to fight.