US Soldier Refuses Deployment to Afghanistan: CO Declares War "Flat-Out Murder"

"I believe war is the crime of our times," Blake Ivey, a specialist in the US Army, said over the phone in a slow, deliberate voice.

Blake Ivey, currently stationed in Fort Gordon, Georgia, is publicly refusing to deploy to Afghanistan. The 21-year-old soldier filed for conscientious objector status in July 2008 but was ordered to deploy while his application was being processed. He is determined not to go, and as of our last phone call, was still actively serving on his base, weighing his options for refusal.

Ivey joins what appears to be a growing number of troops refusing to fight in the so-called Global War on Terror. While there is no way to tell the exact number of resisters, military statistics indicate that resistance is on the rise. Since 2002, the Army has court-martialed twice as many soldiers for desertion and other unauthorized absences per year as for each year between 1997 and 2001.

The Associated Press reports the AWOL rate in the Army at its highest since 1980, with the desertion rate (defined as 30 or more days of unauthorized absence) having jumped 80 percent since the start of the current Iraq War. More than 150 soldiers have publicly refused to fight in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and an estimated 200 war resisters are living in Canada. Many war resisters are conscientious objectors (COs) who were deterred at early stages of the CO application process or ordered to deploy before their CO paperwork went through.

Ivey, who grew up in Augusta, Georgia, a few miles from the Fort Gordon base where he is now stationed, joined the Army willingly. After the events of September 11, 2001, he felt that it was "his generation's time to stand up in defense of the country." He states, "I went to the recruiter myself. No one approached me." So, in 2005 he joined the military out of high school, despite his mother's pleas that he take time to think it over.

Blood Makes the Grass Grow?

Yet once Ivey was in the military, his feelings about war changed. He found it unsettling to chant "Blood, blood, blood makes the grass grow" in basic training, and he wrote a letter home to his mother describing his discomfort. When he was deployed to Korea in 2006, he started questioning the value of military service. Halfway through his year-long deployment, he began studying anarchist philosophers and nonviolent thinkers such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mohandas Gandhi.

Ryan Jackson's Resistance

The refusal of his close friend Ryan Jackson to deploy to Iraq led Ivey to re-evaluate his own situation. They got to know each other in Advanced Individual Training in 2005 and were in the same unit together at Fort Gordon after Ivey's return from Korea. They discussed at length their reluctance to go to war. Ivey provided simple advice to Jackson: "I told him, you've got to do what you believe in."

So, Jackson decided not to go. He attempted to gain administrative leave, but when his paperwork failed to go through, he decided to go AWOL rather than face deployment. Jackson went AWOL in 2007 and was court-martialed and sentenced to 100 days of confinement. "When I talked to Jackson before he went to court-martial, that's when I decided I was going to start on my conscientious objector paperwork," says Ivey.

Alternatives to War

Meanwhile, Ivey continued to research alternatives to war, immersing himself in the texts of nonviolent philosophers. He also got involved in his local community, helping start a chapter of Food Not Bombs, a collective movement to serve free food, mostly vegan and vegetarian, to people on the street. "I want to make a difference in people's lives," he says.

Deployment Orders

While his conscientious objector paperwork was being processed, Ivey was ordered to deploy to Afghanistan. Application for CO status cannot forestall deployment, but applicants are supposed to be assigned tasks that minimally conflict with their CO convictions. However, this military directive is subject to ambiguous interpretation, and commanding officers have considerable discretion in determining appropriate assignments. Furthermore, many conscientious objectors consider deployment to a combat zone ethically compromising by definition.

Ivey is determined not to go to Afghanistan, and he is working with a civilian lawyer to explore his options. He has also enlisted the support of Courage to Resist, an organization that supports the troops who refuse to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan and has worked with several GIs in similar situations, including Anderson and Jackson.

Ivey's mother, who lives in Augusta a few miles from where Ivey is stationed, is supportive but worried about her son. "I am concerned because any time someone you care about is in a situation that could cause them turmoil in their life or legal charges, whether they are right or wrong, I am going to worry," she said. "But I would in no way encourage him to do anything different. He is following his moral beliefs, and he has to do that."

Despite the threat of punishment, Ivey remains steadfast in his commitment to nonviolence. "I am against organized war," he says. "It is flat-out murder."