GodofAeons
Well-Known Member
Would be interested to know if there’s more to that story, or if the person’s scam-fu was just that strong. The hard part about getting CO status, as I understand it, is that you have to have developed legitimate religious beliefs incompatible with service since starting to serve. And you can’t pick and choose; it’s either a rejection of ALL military service or not.
I went through this with the chaplains on my boat as a DivO. I had a Sailor who came up to me with the whole “I might be a CO” thing right after he really got a taste of boat life. So I made him an appointment to see Chaps, and crickets. I surmise that when he discovered the process involved explaining himself to someone with a Masters in Divinity, whose job is differentiating legitimate religious conversions from people looking for an out, that that’s when the issue quietly went “poof.”
Being norse pagan, they'd laugh me out at the door if I attempted to he a CO. Being a warrior is a huge part of it. And me being a pilot is the modern equivalent of a warrior. I'm ecstatic to serve in this role for my country.
In the PacNW, you can't throw a rock without hitting a coffee shack. I once flew with a guy who'd get a 6-shot latte and then come into work and start drinking coffee. Of course, he was a ginger. So seeing as he didn't have a soul, the caffeine was probably animating him and if he ever stopped drinking it, he'd keel over dead.