Joshua Scheer
As Americans mark the Fourth of July with official celebrations of military power and national triumph, another vision of patriotism is emerging from those who have worn the uniform themselves. In this interview, Army veteran and Center on Conscience & War Executive Director Mike Prysner discusses the growing number of active-duty troops seeking conscientious objector status, the moral questions confronting service members, and why veterans and military families are organizing a “Freedom Over Fascism” march in Philadelphia. At a moment when dissent within the ranks is reaching levels not seen since the post-9/11 era, Prysner argues that some of the strongest opposition to endless war is now coming from those asked to fight it.
As we reflect on the words of Ron Kovic this Fourth of July, it is worth remembering that his courage did not end when he returned home from Vietnam. Kovic inspired generations of veterans to speak out, challenge militarism, and redefine patriotism as a commitment to peace, justice, and democracy.
As America Celebrates 250 Years, More U.S. Troops Are Refusing to Fight
Over the years, ScheerPost has highlighted the voices of veterans who have challenged the assumptions of endless war and reminded us that service to one’s country does not end with military duty. Among the most important of those voices is U.S. Army veteran Mike Prysner, whose work carries forward a long tradition of principled dissent.
In this timely conversation with BreakThrough News, Prysner discusses the growing number of active-duty service members seeking conscientious objector status, the profound moral questions confronting today’s military, and why more U.S. troops are refusing to fight than at any point since the years following September 11. At a moment when official America 250 celebrations emphasize military spectacle and displays of national power, Prysner offers a powerful counternarrative—one rooted in conscience, accountability, and the belief that patriotism demands more than unquestioning obedience.
As Ron Kovic has reminded us throughout his life, the deepest form of patriotism is not blind loyalty to government but the courage to follow one’s conscience, even when doing so comes at great personal cost. Mike Prysner’s work is a powerful reminder that Kovic’s legacy lives on in a new generation of veterans and active-duty service members determined to place humanity before war and conscience before conformity.
Every Fourth of July, Americans are encouraged to celebrate freedom with fireworks, military flyovers, patriotic speeches, and declarations of national greatness. This year’s Independence Day carries even greater symbolism as the nation marks the 250th anniversary of its founding. Yet beneath the official celebrations, another story is unfolding—one that receives far less attention but may ultimately say more about the state of American democracy than any parade ever could.
Across the United States, an increasing number of active-duty service members are refusing to participate in war.
That growing resistance was the focus of a recent conversation with Mike Prysner, a U.S. Army veteran and executive director of the Center on Conscience and War. Speaking with BreakThrough News ahead of a July Fourth mobilization in Philadelphia, Prysner described what he says is an unprecedented surge in military personnel seeking conscientious objector status following the Trump administration’s expanding military operations abroad.
The trend represents something larger than individual acts of dissent. It reflects a growing moral crisis within the armed forces themselves.
Resistance From Inside the Military
Public opposition to war is nothing new. From Vietnam to Iraq, Americans have repeatedly questioned military interventions that stretched on for years with enormous human costs.
What is different today, according to Prysner, is where some of that opposition is emerging.
Rather than coming solely from veterans after they return home, increasing numbers of active-duty personnel are questioning their missions while still in uniform. Some are filing for conscientious objector status before completing their service. Others are reaching out for legal assistance after witnessing events they say fundamentally changed their understanding of what they were being asked to do.
Prysner says his organization experienced its largest increase in conscientious objector cases since the attacks of September 11, with the surge accelerating after the recent war with Iran. For many service members, individual incidents became moral breaking points that transformed private doubts into action.
Those stories challenge a common assumption that military personnel universally support the policies they are ordered to carry out.
Instead, they suggest that many wrestle deeply with questions of ethics, legality, and personal responsibility.
Patriotism Beyond Obedience
The timing of this movement is particularly striking.
While official America 250 events emphasize military strength, national pride, and displays of power, veterans and military families are organizing an alternative gathering in Philadelphia—the birthplace of the United States—to argue that patriotism should not be measured by unquestioning obedience to government policy.
Their message is not that America should abandon its ideals, but that it should strive to fulfill them.
Participants are calling for an end to endless wars, greater investment in communities at home, protection of civil liberties, and opposition to the growing militarization of domestic politics. Veterans, active-duty personnel, military families, and peace organizations will march together under the belief that defending democracy sometimes means challenging those who claim to speak in its name.
It is a reminder that throughout American history, some of the country’s strongest critics have also been among its most devoted citizens.
A Long Tradition of Military Dissent
Military resistance has often played a pivotal role in changing the course of American history.
During the Vietnam War, thousands of service members questioned the conflict, refused unlawful orders, published underground newspapers, and testified publicly about what they had witnessed overseas. Veterans Against the War became one of the era’s most influential antiwar movements, helping shift public opinion about the conflict.
Among the most recognizable voices was Ron Kovic, whose autobiography Born on the Fourth of July transformed him into one of the nation’s most powerful advocates for peace. Severely wounded in Vietnam, Kovic argued that genuine patriotism required honesty about the human costs of war rather than glorification of military conflict.
Today’s conscientious objectors may differ in circumstance, but they confront many of the same moral questions.
When does loyalty to one’s country require saying no?
When does following conscience become the highest form of service?
The Hidden Rights Many Soldiers Never Learn
One of the least understood aspects of military service is that conscientious objection is a legally recognized right.
Service members who develop sincere moral or religious objections to participating in war may qualify for honorable discharge under established military procedures. Yet many never learn those protections exist.
According to Prysner, hundreds—perhaps thousands—of service members could qualify but remain unaware of their options. His organization provides free legal assistance to those navigating what can be an extraordinarily complex process.
That work is not about encouraging people to abandon responsibility.
It is about ensuring that individuals who experience profound changes in conscience are not trapped into participating in actions they believe violate their deepest ethical convictions.
Democracy Depends on Conscience
Governments often portray military institutions as unified and unquestioning. Public ceremonies reinforce the image of perfect discipline and unanimous support.
Reality is more complicated.
The existence of conscientious objectors reminds us that military personnel are citizens before they are soldiers. They carry not only weapons but also moral agency.
Their willingness to question authority can become an important democratic safeguard.
Throughout history, authoritarian governments have depended upon absolute obedience from security forces. Democratic societies, by contrast, rely on institutions populated by individuals capable of independent ethical judgment.
That distinction matters.
Whether one agrees with these objectors or not, their decisions demonstrate that conscience has not disappeared from public life.
Freedom Worth Celebrating
The Fourth of July has always carried competing meanings.
Frederick Douglass famously asked, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” challenging Americans to confront the gap between national ideals and lived reality.
Each generation has wrestled with similar contradictions.
Celebrating independence while acknowledging injustice does not diminish patriotism. It strengthens it.
The willingness of citizens—including those serving in uniform—to ask difficult questions about war, democracy, and government power reflects one of the freedoms the nation’s founders claimed to defend.
As America marks its 250th birthday, perhaps the most meaningful celebration is not found in military flyovers or political spectacle, but in the enduring belief that loyalty to country sometimes requires the courage to dissent.
History often remembers those who served.
It also remembers those who refused.
In March as the United States edged deeper into another Middle East war, the most important acts of resistance may not be taking place in the streets or the halls of Congress—but inside the ranks of the U.S. military itself. In this powerful conversation, Dr. Margaret Flowers speaks with antiwar veteran Mike Prysner and revisits an earlier discussion with military attorney James Branum to explore a little-reported reality: a growing number of service members are questioning the legality, morality, and human cost of another expanding conflict. Their stories reveal that beneath the official rhetoric of patriotism and national security, many in uniform are asking whether conscience can—and should—take precedence over unquestioning obedience.
‘We Won’t Die for Israel’: Military Members Seek a Way Out as U.S. War Expands
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