Attack on School in Iran Breaks Morale of American Soldiers
More US military personnel are seeking conscientious objector status, and advisory lines report a dramatic surge in calls since the start of the war with Iran.
More US military personnel are seeking conscientious objector status, and advisory lines report a dramatic surge in calls since the start of the war with Iran.
Taylor Highland, a physician in the US Army stationed in Texas, decided this spring to request an early discharge from service. The key reason, as he states, was the airstrike on a girls' school in the Iranian city of Minab on the first day of the war, which killed more than 150 people, mostly children.
Highland, whose identity is protected by a name change, told Germany's Tagesschau that the event prompted him to reconsider his own role. "I wanted to determine whether my beliefs align with the reasons typically used to refuse military service," he said.
Highland has served in the military for over ten years, and it funded his medical studies. He grew up in an environment where military service was considered the pinnacle of patriotism. "I needed money for school, and as a teenager, those values were instilled in me. Joining the military seemed like a good way to serve my country," he explains.
Over time, however, he began to question the purpose of his medical work in a military context. "I was helping people recover, but it always came down to them recovering just enough to be targets of enemy fire again or to shoot at others," he said. He has one year left in his commitment, but he is determined to leave. "I'll leave even if I'm the only one," he stated.
Although the number of those seeking conscientious objector status is small compared to the 1.3 million members of the US armed forces, the trend is concerning. Bill Galvin from GI Rights Hotline, a counseling phone line for soldiers, witnesses a sharp increase in demand for assistance. They used to receive just one or two calls a week or two related to refusing service, but now several soldiers call them daily.
"Almost all of them mention the attack on the girls' school and say: I don't want to be part of an organization that does such things," Galvin said. In March 2026 alone, the first month of the war, the organization took on more than 80 new cases of soldiers wanting to refuse further service, nearly double what they typically handle in an entire year. Highland personally knows a dozen colleagues who are trying to leave the military.
According to the interviewees, morale within the armed forces is also affected by the direction set by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who declared war on "woke" policies, including diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Kori Schake, an analyst at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, assessed that the Trump administration has thereby dragged the military into cultural conflicts that divide American society.
Galvin believes such policies directly harm morale. "Even if you come from a conservative background and might have some understanding of anti-woke sentiments, you can serve in a unit where some people you are very close to are gay or lesbian. Then you start to see through some of those slogans," he said.
Additional doubts among soldiers have been raised by the Trump administration's decisions on military engagements whose legality is questioned, including deploying the National Guard in American cities, airstrikes on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean, and the war against Iran itself. Highland reports that many of his colleagues view the conflict skeptically. "They are not entirely convinced why all this is happening. Because of that, it's hard for them to justify everything else that comes from being involved in such a conflict," he said.
The Pentagon announced in December 2025 that all branches of the US armed forces met their annual recruitment goals. However, there is no official data on whether enough personnel are staying in the military or how many are extending their contracts. The US Department of Defense says there is no cause for concern. Highland will have to repay the money invested in his education due to early discharge, but as a physician, he says he can afford it. He advises other soldiers who begin to doubt what they are doing to seek help and inform themselves about their options.
