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Man's beliefs pit military vs. Navajos
By Electa Draper, Denver Post, January 20, 2007

Durango - Ronnie Tallman comes from a long line of Navajo spiritual leaders, but there also were soldiers among his kin.

At the age of 19, he decided to follow in the footsteps of the soldiers, joining the Marines in October 2004. Now he believes it was the wrong path, that his destiny lies in healing, not fighting.

The Navajo Nation and an organization of medicine men agree. The Marines do not, and now a federal court must decide a case that pits the spiritual beliefs of the Navajo against United States military rules. (Read more.)

Mark Wilkerson: Standing for a Soldier’s Right to Conscience
By Susan Van Haitsma, CommonDreams, Wednesday, February 28, 2007

My favorite photograph of Mark Wilkerson shows him smiling, looking relaxed. He is standing in a grove of trees whose trunks radiate outward from his image as though they are drawing life from him. One side of his face glows with reflected sunshine. He wears a black "Iraq Veterans Against the War" T-shirt with a small star over his heart. (Read more.)

A Question of Conscience
By Kevin Taylor, The Pacific Northwest Herald, May 30, 2007

It happened on the firing range one blinding day in California. Sgt. Brent Carey, an Arab language interrogator in a military intelligence battalion, hefted the M-16. It was hot to the touch. He slapped a magazine of ammunition into place and looked downrange at his target, the human silhouette on paper, and he froze. (Read more.)

Report says few seek conscientious objector status in Iraq
By James Foley, Medill Reports, October 2, 2007

A congressional report released this week shows that the number of “formally reported” applications for conscientious objector status is small compared to the total size of the armed forces.

But some veterans who oppose the war in Iraq, say the actual numbers of conscientious objectors has been underreported due to the difficult application process and because peer pressure within a military unit discourages conscientious objectors. (Read more.)