US service members are filing for conscientious objector status at a rate their own advocates have never seen before, and some are submitting applications with hours left before deployment to the Middle East.
As the Trump administration moves thousands of additional troops toward the region in what CNN confirmed on 24 March is an imminent deployment of approximately 1,000 soldiers from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, internal military dissent is mounting. The Center on Conscience and War (CCW) has recorded a 1,000 percent increase in new conscientious objector (CO) clients since the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran began on 28 February 2026.
