‘I had to get out’: the US military officers filing for conscientious objector status over Gaza

Disillusioned members of the US military have turned to Vietnam war-era policy to terminate their service because of religious or moral convictions

For Joy Metzler, a second lieutenant in the US air force, joining the military had felt like answering a calling. An adoptee from China who was raised in a conservative Christian family, she believed she owed a debt to the United States.

But the Hamas attacks in Israel last year, and Israel's war that followed, rocked Metzler's convictions. Within months, she filed for conscientious objector status, one of a small number of US military personnel seeking to end their service because of their moral opposition to US support for Israel.