When soldiers refuse to continue fighting a war, some antiwar groups help them organize to oppose their deployment orders.

While there is no general draft, some troops disillusioned from serving overseas in the War on Terror fight for a discharge from their eight-year-long enlistment contracts. The Center on Conscience & War manages the main support network for war resisters who seek advice about what their options are.

“We help arrange legal defense, counseling, moral support, expert testimony and we sometimes lobby Congress to change policies so there are fairer, faster systems to apply for conscientious objector status,” said J.E. McNeil, executive director of the Center, which was founded in 1942. “Appealing for a discharge or non-combat service by gaining conscientious objector status has always meant you’ve developed an opposition to war for moral, ethical or religious reasons.”

Soldiers ask more questions about their commitment during wartime, so the Center on Conscience & War formed the G.I. Rights Hotline in 1994 after soldiers sought objector advice during the Persian Gulf War.

“Prior to 2001 the hotline was getting maybe 1,000 calls a month, but it got a range of 3,000 to 4,000 calls a month as of 2008,” said McNeil. “Before September 11th people thought – reasonably so – that the Army was a regular job in a funny outfit. But then when people were confronted with using their weapons, these 18 or 19 year-olds had to decide how far their beliefs extended beyond shooting people in video games.”

The number of war resisters has increased partly because of disillusionment with the war and the impact repeat deployments can have on a soldier’s mental health and the finances of their family, according to John Zokovitch, spokesman for Pax Christi. Another part of the umbrella that coordinates with the Center on Conscience & War, Pax Christi is a Catholic antiwar group made up of 100 U.S. bishops and 700 religious communities.

“One of the main things we do as a Catholic group is to help soldiers that are interested in conscientious objections and what the church teaches about it,” explained Zokovitch. “Many of the tactics the military uses to bring people into its service are manipulative on the goodwill that people have, to be heroic and to do their country service. They say they’ll see the world and get money for college, but the reality of war and death is something they don’t mention.”

While some veterans’ service groups refer soldiers seeking advice to the Center on Conscience & War, other advocacy groups, such as the American Legion, believe that resisting deployment is a misguided effort. The American Legion’s 3 million members nationwide have issued a resolution in 2005 supporting the War on Terror. They have reaffirmed it every year since then.

“There is no draft. People voluntarily serve in the military and they know the possibilities when they sign up,” said John Raughter,a former Marine sergeant and the American Legion’s spokesman. “The American Legion has called for a larger military given the considerate strain of repeat deployments. We’ve called for better benefits and pay to make the military more appealing for families. Defying your commander-in-chief is not the way to go.”

One war resister who disagrees is Spec. Victor Agosto, 24, who lost his patience with the politics of the war after serving four years of active duty, including 14 months in Iraq.

“I think wars only end when soldiers refuse to fight them,” said Agosto. “They never end from the top down.”

Agosto recently refused to comply with his stop-loss orders to deploy to Afghanistan and demanded a court martial to hear his case.

“It’s probable that I’ll be in jail for some time and I’m ready for whatever they throw at me,” said Agosto. “When I went to Iraq, I kind of concluded that we had to buy what we broke, but by the time I left I concluded we weren’t helping matters at all. I started to think about it, I starting reading and thought that both occupations have nothing to do with keeping America safer.”

Center on Conscience & War groups are providing Agosto with publicity on the Web sites of their member groups to call attention to his case and to raise funds for his lawyer.

“I think this sets an example for other soldiers and would contribute to ending the war more than any of the other ways of ending my participation in a war I believe is wrong,” said Agosto. “It’s tough to take a stand in solitude, so I want soldiers to know that they have options and that’s there is support for them if they are against the war.”

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