Most media stories on military conscientious objection revolve around those who are in trouble for missing movement or suing over their denial.  (Approved CO applications hover around 50%.)  On Slate, Kathryn Schulz interviews a young man named Josh Stieber who was recently discharged as a CO.

His logic is sometimes strained and much is based on personal perception rather than fact, but that is often the case in situations like this.  Ultimately, too, it is difficult to tell if he truly disagrees with all war, as CO status requires, because his emphasis was on the way that the war in Iraq was waged.  Still, the final questions seem to lean in that direction.

His story is worth the read, even as an insight into the spiritual struggles in general faced in military training and combat.  Interestingly, Stieber notes he was resigned to going to prison until he was reminded of the option of conscientious objection.

In a somewhat ironic twist, Stieber came to the ‘moral’ conclusion of the immorality of war after knowingly purchasing a pirated movie.