veterans dissent – As the Iran war enters its fourth month and deaths mount in Iran, Lebanon, and beyond, some U.S. veterans say a rare, visible shift is taking hold—an increase in anti-war organizing and a surge in conscientious objector cases. Others warn the debate is far fro
For Aaron Hughes, the war didn’t feel distant. It didn’t stay in the news cycle or behind the language of briefings. In the beginning of the Iran war, he said, he couldn’t sleep—caught in a brutal mismatch between what the military was doing and what his daily life offered him to hold onto.
As the conflict stretches into its fourth month. the human cost described by Hughes and others is already staggering: upwards of 3. 000 people have died in Iran alone. thousands have been killed in Lebanon. and hundreds of casualties have been reported in other countries in the region. The economic shock has traveled just as fast, driving up the cost of fuel and other goods worldwide.
Hughes. an Iraq war veteran and a Chicago organizer for About Face: Veterans Against the War. said the emotions came fast—despair and depression—and they weren’t eased by the sense that. despite his best efforts and those of other veterans. the country had once again found itself embroiled in another war.
“When things were beginning, for myself, I was having a hard time sleeping. The disconnect between our military actions and our daily lives is profound,” Hughes said. “It’s hard to bridge that in any real concrete way.”
Since returning from Iraq in 2006. Hughes has worked as a vocal anti-war activist and artist. sharing his experience and helping organize other veterans. He said the attention surrounding About Face waned over the years as the Iraq war and the occupation of Afghanistan fell out of headlines. But interest started ticking up again as Israel ramped up its war in Gaza with U.S. support.
Hughes pointed to a moment that changed the temperature of the movement for many involved: the self-immolation of Aaron Bushnell. a 25-year-old Air Force serviceman. who in February 2024 lit himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington. D.C. Hughes also said Donald Trump’s return to office spurred more veterans into action—first in response to Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and Marines to American cities. then to the military’s action in Venezuela. and then to the war in Iran.
Hughes said the United States has not yet had the reckoning with its history of militarism that he has been pushing for. Still, he sees change in two places at once: the American public and members of the military.
“People are beginning to see the costs of militarization, and that is a hopeful sign. We don’t know how far it’s going to go, but at least it seems to be waking up some people,” he said.
He described a familiar pattern among veterans who question their orders. “Most veterans feel really alone when they’re questioning their orders, when they’re frustrated inside their unit. They don’t know where to turn. They feel like they’re all by themselves,” Hughes said. Even after leaving the service, he said, the experience can cling—making it harder to simply move on.
“What gives me hope is that there is this legacy of veterans resisting and fighting back, fighting for freedom, fighting for democracy, and fighting for justice, and I think that I didn’t know about that legacy when I was in the military,” Hughes said.
Joseph Miller. a Vietnam veteran who served in the Navy from 1961 to 1968 and has been working with Vietnam Veterans Against the War since 1970. said he’s seen generations of veterans join anti-war organizing. In the 1960s and 1970s. he recalled. older activists believed they were entering new territory—veterans returning from a war and organizing against it.
“When we were organizing the ‘60s and ‘70s. we had this unrealistic belief that we were the first generation of war veterans during a war to come home and fight against that war. that’s the first time that ever happened. and we considered that to be our strength. ” Miller said. “We thought. ‘Okay. we’re going to stop wars altogether. because this is the first time veterans are coming home and saying our war is wrong.’”.
Miller said decades of anti-war activism have shaped public attitudes, even as leaders such as Trump have moved toward new wars. He pointed to veterans returning from different conflicts supporting one another’s exits from the military.
“People are beginning to see the costs of militarization, and that is a hopeful sign. We don’t know how far it’s going to go. but at least it seems to be waking up some people to what the reality has been all these years. ” Miller said. “And the fact that veterans are coming home and organizing against their war. the Iraq and Afghan veterans are now helping veterans coming home from Iran. or people who are still in the military. and now realizing maybe they shouldn’t be there anymore. They’re helping them to get out.”.
Not all veterans agree on what Iran represents—or whether the war should have started at all.
John Byrnes. the strategic director of Concerned Veterans for America. a large and conservative-leaning veterans organization. said the views he hears are sharply divided. He said many older veterans align with Trump. who argued that the Iran attack was necessary and that other presidents had been putting it off. Byrnes also said other veterans remain concerned even when they’re not fundamentally opposed to the war’s stated aims.
Byrnes said his own position is that the war was a bad idea, and he pointed to process as the measure of whether leaders truly believed they had the case to wage it.
“I personally think this was a bad idea. and I think that if there was a case to go to war with Iran. that president had. based on intelligence. that the right way to do that in the United States is to go through the U.S. Congress and get a declaration of war or authorization for use of military force,” Byrnes said.
He said the Iran war is broadly unpopular with the American public at large and that veterans’ views track that divide. From the outset, he said, the war was broadly unpopular; most polling now puts support at around 35% and opposition at around 60%.
“There are a lot of younger veterans who don’t like the idea of wiping a civilization off the map. And again. having served in the military. there can be this view that the military is a giant right-leaning organization … but it’s still a politically diverse organization. ” Byrnes said. “It reflects America in a lot of ways, and same with those who have served. There are plenty of veterans who think this is a terrible idea. who think this is a very dangerous situation. and who certainly would not like to see America’s power and military forces squandered on a goal that could be solved diplomatically.”.
Beyond polling, the changing sentiment shows up in one place that is easy to miss if you’re not watching: how many people want out.
Mike Prysner. the executive director of the Center on Conscience and War. which provides legal support and counsel for conscientious objectors. said the group has seen a huge increase in interest. “Of the people that have called us over the war. over 100 have officially started the conscientious object process with us. which is about double the number of cases we would handle in a given year. and that number is pretty much just from March and April. ” Prysner said.
Prysner said not everyone who is opposed seeks conscientious objector status. Some people, he explained, don’t apply for a variety of reasons, including that the process is lengthy and it’s often easier for someone to simply finish their service in the military.
Kelly Dougherty. an Iraq war veteran and the counseling director for the center. said service members have pointed to a series of incidents during Trump’s second term as their point of crystallization—the moment they decided they were opposed to all war. Dougherty said people often question war and their own complicity before they reach that point. including what has been happening in Gaza. He linked that turning point to learning about U.S. history, different wars, and different war crimes.
“What happened with the U.S. kidnapping [Venezuelan President Nicolás] Maduro, with bombing fishing boats in the Caribbean,” Dougherty said. “All of these things that have happened both in the recent past, but also in distant history, contribute to people coming to their opposition to war.”
The picture that emerges from Hughes, Miller, Prysner, Dougherty, and Byrnes is not a single mood across the military. It’s a contested one—visible in public protest. in the surge of conscientious objector cases since March and April. and in veterans’ disagreement over whether the war should have proceeded without Congress.
Still, for Hughes and Miller, the uptick in conscientious objectors carries a kind of forward motion. It suggests that awareness is spreading among current service members—even if those who seek formal status remain only a small fraction.
“We, as veterans, are going to keep organizing, and we’re going to come back again and again and again, until our country has a reckoning with our failed legacy of militarism,” Hughes said. “Until we have that reckoning, we’re gonna keep speaking out, we’re gonna keep organizing.”
United States politics veterans against the war Iran war conscientious objectors About Face Concerned Veterans for America Donald Trump National Guard Marines Aaron Bushnell Nicolás Maduro