(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
So one is an idealist, the other is a slacker?
When this guy joined...he should have figured out in basic training that military operations mean that you might have to hurt someone real bad...and kill a few bad guys along the way. For some idiot to come up a year or years later...and claim that he is a pacifist...is a joke. I am forever reminded of a guy who married a German woman prior to the first Gulf War, and she attempted to change him situation...to make sure he didn't go off to the war or hurt anyone...and he sat there for an entire weekend listening to her speeches...and on Monday morning, he simply packed up a bag and said adios to the wife and the marriage. Her brain-wash attempt didn't work...and had simply backfired. My guess is that there is a woman beind this navy guy...and he was brain-washed to some degree.
"The difference is that a conscientious objector is a pacifist and is opposed to ALL wars. The other one opposes that one particular conflict he wants to wriggle out of serving in. "
There have been many brave conscientious objectors that have served as medics.