for those that are serious about getting out of it, conscientious objection. its a long and strenuous process but its doable. theyll just make you work in a nursing home or a hospital for 2 years. my grandfather was a conscientious objector, and i got out of the army for conscientious objection. for me, i wrote roughly a 10,000 word essay explaining how my belief system had changed since i had joined and i was unwilling to participate in violence with the exception of self-defense. i believe the supreme court ruled that belief in self-defense does not inherently mean someone is not a conchie. you might get unlucky and get a bad board that doesnt access your case fairly, but its not impossible. pacifism just doesnt register in a lot of peoples brains and people generally dont differentiate between self-defense and war. take heed though, usually people in the military wont be able to fully comprehend what youre putting forward so theyll just accuse you of being afraid or whatnot. this is where it gets really dangerous, if youre in the process of being drafted and not yet in the military, you have a lot of flexibility to articulate a moral opposition to the military industrial complex, politicians, the israeli lobby, etc. but once youre inyour objection has to be completely based on religious belief. simply saying you dont think politicians should be have stake in the war-industry can be interpreted as contempt towards public officials. and christianity is not a good religion to base your objection on. a chaplain will simply say he misinterpreted the bible. buddhism is probably the safest bet. if the teaching does not say you shall not participate in war. theyre not going to go for it. why go the conchie route? because it is legitimate and you want to avoid conflict on your own terms.
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