Witnessing the brutal reality of war, Benderman says, made him choose conscience over his commitment to fellow troops. That's why, after 10 years in the Army, he can bear the insults.
An officer called him a coward. His battalion chaplain shamed him in an e-mail from Kuwait. That's because Benderman, whose unit just deployed for a second combat tour in Iraq, refused to return to war.
"Some people may be born a conscientious objector, but sometimes people realize through certain events in their lives that the path they're on is the wrong one," Benderman says. "The idea was: do I really want to stay in an organization where the sole purpose is to kill?"
The 40-year-old sergeant stunned his commanders at Fort Stewart when he filed notice Dec. 28 that he was seeking a discharge as a conscientious objector.
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