American soldiers refusing to fight? Conscientious objections on the rise in U.S. military

On May 8, 1942, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, was arrested in Washington, D.C., on a claim of draft evasion for World War II, though he was over the age limit. In His book, “Message to the Blackman in America,” on page 179, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote:

“When the call was made for all males between 18 and 44, I refused (NOT EVADING) on the grounds that, first, I was a Muslim and would not take part in war and especially not on the side with the infidels. Second, I was 45 years of age and was NOT according to the law required to register.”

Many other male members of the Nation of Islam at that time were themselves imprisoned as conscientious objectors (CO) to World War II.

That status is today being claimed by hundreds of active-duty soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines across every branch of the U.S. military, as conscientious objectors.

Since the United States and Israel launched military strikes on Iran on Feb. 28 of this year, veterans’ groups and legal counselors say they have fielded a wave of active-duty service members asking how to become conscientious objectors—including officers.

The Center on Conscience and War (CCW), which has advised troops on their rights since 1940, says applications have increased six-fold since the war began, with roughly 140 applicants taken on so far, compared with about 50 in a typical year.

CCW Executive Director Mike Prysner said many current applicants have served more than a decade, span ranks up to major, and in some cases attended military service academies.

“The Iran War was really the breaking point for them when they realized that they had to take action to make sure that they did not participate in something that they were going to regret for the rest of their lives,” said Mr. Prysner to MS NOW in an August 26 interview.

Quaker House’s GI Rights Hotline reported a parallel spike of 429 inquiries in March and 440 in April, with elevated demand persisting since then. The group reported that it is working with about 30 people actively pursuing CO applications, compared with five to 10 before the war.

“The number of those who actually decide to apply does not reflect the complete number of people who have expressed hesitations,” said Lenore Yarger, a longtime peace activist and resource counselor with the GI Rights Hotline.

Operating through Quaker House in Fayetteville, North Carolina, according to the IBTimes UK and The New American. She cited the Minab girl’s school bombing in Iran and “concern about the leadership” as the most common reasons callers gave.

Mr. Prysner said the highest-ranking service member to seek CCW’s help held an O-4 pay grade—equivalent to a major or a Navy lieutenant commander.

According to Mr. Prysner, most of the currently serving soldiers who joined roughly 500 veterans, active-duty troops and military families marching in Philadelphia on July 4—the largest such protest since Vietnam—were born after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

“They became adults as the Afghanistan War, which spanned their entire lives, ended in defeat,” he said. “They have grown up with those wars and their lessons: total disasters that turned out to be for nothing, with a devastating humanitarian toll, kept alive endlessly by the lies of those in charge,” he stated.

The Feb. 28, 2026, strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab is cited by multiple sources as a specific catalyst driving objections.

Addressing the Nation of Islam’s 31st Annual National Training Conference on July 25, Minister Farrakhan issued a divine, stern warning:

“You’ve got bloodsuckers of the poor. You’ve got eaters of the dead. See, when you don’t know how to work for what you get, or are waiting for somebody to die to see what you can get, think about it, those sisters, those brothers, taught us this lesson: An aggressor is a loser.

“I am saying this to the president: An aggressor is a loser. Because God is never with those who are aggressors, oppressors, tyrants, bullies, who love to make people afraid. During the demonstrations, there was a brother moving around, but the poor man lost the stick (knocked out of his hands).

“Those brothers were mean out there! And if you are an aggressive fool, looking at what you saw, then the lesson is: Don’t be a bully. Find a better way to solve a problem! Yes, you’ve got an armada. Yes, you’ve got ships. Yes, you’ve got armies.

Yes, you’ve got ballistic missiles. Yes …  But you don’t have God. And if you don’t have God, you don’t have the forces of nature! And God is unleashing the forces of nature now! Don’t try Him. Don’t try Him, please. If you want to live, put the gun down, put the bomb down,” Minister Farrakhan said.

He continued, “You can threaten Iran. Iran has a little something to fight back. But my Teacher told me that this war was going to start with conventional weapons and it will end with nuclear weapons. You heard it first from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

“I say this as warning before the war gets hot. Stop, and think. Precious lives are on those ships, but God can maneuver the water in such a way, which you will see, and sink your ship. See, nothing can stand against the force of nature when it is unleashed.

“Please … I am from God, whether you know it or not! Damn it, if you haven’t seen it yet, you are blind as hell! But I am telling you, I am from God! And what I say, you’re going to meet it again if you think you’re going to destroy people with your bombs, with your weapons! You will be destroyed!”

Dr. Ronald Beavers, founder of the Positive Imagery Foundation, told The Final Call that conscientious objection is nothing new. He ties the current unrest to what he called the Cloward-Piven strategy, a theory of social disruption he said ultimately serves those already in power. The war cannot be sustained, he stated.

“People are leaving the military because folks, just like in Vietnam, are saying it’s not for freedom and justice; it’s for money,” said Dr. Beavers. He said public debate often overlooks the toll already inflicted on those who served, describing some veterans as moving through daily life without recognizing how deeply they’ve been affected: “You see a shell,” he said.

Barry Ladendorf is a Vietnam-era Navy veteran, retired California deputy attorney general and former national president of Veterans for Peace, now president of Veterans for Peace’s San Diego chapter.

He said what he hears from counselors matches CCW and Quaker House’s numbers, and that the Minab strike was a turning point for many service members: “The idea of killing a school full of girls was just, for some of them, too much.”

He also said service members have also raised concerns about Gaza. “They want no part of it. They think the United States should not be giving weapons to Israel to do that. And I agree with it. In fact, doing that is a violation of U.S. law.

We have laws on the books that we’re not following that says the United States cannot give weapons to any nation that is engaged in genocide. And so, when we do that, we’re violating our own laws,” he told The Final Call.

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad refused the World War II draft in 1942 and was unjustly imprisoned for it along with other men of the Nation of Islam. Muhammad Ali refused induction in 1967, refusing to fight a people in another poor nation and was therefore stripped of his heavyweight boxing title.

“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?

No, I am not going ten thousand miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end,” he said in part.

Minister Farrakhan has issued repeated warnings over several decades against war and aggression.

Today CCW and Quaker House report hundreds of active-duty service members seeking conscientious objector status or contacting GI rights hotlines since the war on Iran began.

“I think the solution is to get out of these unnecessary wars. We don’t need to be involved in every conflict around the world. There was absolutely no reason to go into Iran,” Mr. Ladendorf said.

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