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Sailor who refused to learn how to fire a gun because of 'immoral' Afghan war jailed...
Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 5th July 2011

Posted on 07/05/2011 11:39:09 PM PDT by naturalman1975

A Royal Navy medic was jailed for seven months today after he refused to draw a gun because he disagreed with the war in Afghanistan.

Leading Medical Advisor Michael Lyons disobeyed the order by an officer to pick up an SA80 as part of rifle training on the grounds that it was 'against his moral beliefs.'

Lyons, 25, told a court martial he became disillusioned with the service after reading about troops killing civilians on whistle-blowing website Wikileaks.

He had already applied for, but had been denied, conscientious objector status when he was ordered to undertake the rifle training before a tour to Afghanistan.

Lyons was due to begin a two-week rifle course at HMS Excellent, a shore base in Portsmouth, last September but requested to be re-listed in a non-combative role.

On arrival he claimed it was his right not to take part in any combat training while he appealed the decision not to grant him conscientious objector status.

A panel of five Naval officers at a court martial at HMS Nelson, in Portsmouth, Hampshire, today found Lyons guilty of wilfully disobeying a lawful order.

Lyons, who joined the Navy at 18 and denied the charge, was only the third sailor in history to use conscientious objector as a defence at court martial.

He was demoted to the rank of Able Seaman, dismissed from the service and sentenced to seven months at the Colchester Military Corrective Training Centre in Essex.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; United Kingdom; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: conscientious; lyons; michaellyons; objector; wikileaks
Bear in mind that the primary reason a Medic is trained to carry a firearm is so he can protect his patients if necessary. I cannot see how anyone can have a 'moral objection' to that.
1 posted on 07/05/2011 11:39:13 PM PDT by naturalman1975
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To: naturalman1975


2 posted on 07/05/2011 11:44:18 PM PDT by freedomwarrior998
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To: All

3 posted on 07/05/2011 11:49:29 PM PDT by freedomwarrior998
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To: naturalman1975

Apparently the fact that his actions will result in another medic being sent in his place does not trouble his conscience.


4 posted on 07/06/2011 12:07:58 AM PDT by Immerito (Reading Through the Bible in 90 Days)
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To: freedomwarrior998

I assume these are CO MOH recipients ? I would love to hear their stories.


5 posted on 07/06/2011 12:13:38 AM PDT by onona (I stand with SARAH !)
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To: freedomwarrior998

NM, I googled it. it’s late.


6 posted on 07/06/2011 12:15:11 AM PDT by onona (I stand with SARAH !)
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To: onona

Good Lord, what men. Incredible stories.

No whining by me today - perspective at hand.


7 posted on 07/06/2011 12:23:03 AM PDT by onona (I stand with SARAH !)
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To: naturalman1975
Image and video hosting by TinyPic
Congressional Medal of Honor winner Francis C. Hammond (November 9, 1931 – March 27, 1953)
One Corpsman who didn't back down.
8 posted on 07/06/2011 1:06:00 AM PDT by ComputerGuy (HM2/USN M/3/3 Marines RVN 66-67)
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To: naturalman1975

Brits must look at this differently than we do. Conscientious objector status isn’t uncommon among those in the medical services in our military.


9 posted on 07/06/2011 1:20:02 AM PDT by Melas (Sent via Galaxy Tab)
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To: naturalman1975

- Lyons, 25, told a court martial he became disillusioned with the service after reading about troops killing civilians on whistle-blowing website Wikileaks.

Probably liberal websites. Why was he visiting anti-war liberal websites to begin with?

Shouldn’t his interest been in medical websites?

Give him ten years hard labor.


10 posted on 07/06/2011 1:24:36 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper (Purge legalize drugs cop hating pro homosexual marriage Liberaltarians from FR.)
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To: ComputerGuy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_C._Hammond


11 posted on 07/06/2011 1:25:15 AM PDT by packrat35 (America is rapidly becoming a police state that East Germany could be proud of!)
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To: freedomwarrior998

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_G._LaPointe,_Jr.


12 posted on 07/06/2011 1:27:08 AM PDT by packrat35 (America is rapidly becoming a police state that East Germany could be proud of!)
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To: freedomwarrior998

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Doss

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_W._Bennett_%28conscientious_objector%29


13 posted on 07/06/2011 1:28:40 AM PDT by packrat35 (America is rapidly becoming a police state that East Germany could be proud of!)
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To: packrat35

I’m a graduate of Francis C. Hammond High School in Alexandria, Va.


14 posted on 07/06/2011 1:32:47 AM PDT by ComputerGuy (HM2/USN M/3/3 Marines RVN 66-67)
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To: Immerito

Anyone who is planning on being in a war zone, and who doesn’t learn how to handle a rifle supplied to them, is just an idiot who wants to die.

Of course we know that this is a lawsuit/political/MSM issue and not ignorance.

It used to be that American boys were taught to use rifles and pistols in Boy Scouts. We were also taught when to use them.

I bet if this ‘sailor’ was living in Afghanistan, he would learn to use a rifle. And every other weapon he could find.


15 posted on 07/06/2011 1:32:53 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lame and ill-informed post)
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To: Melas
Conscientious objector status isn’t uncommon among those in the medical services in our military.

Odd that those who refuse to use a 'gun' to kill because of the Hippocratic Oath don't seem to mind using a pair of scissors and a vacuum cleaner to kill babies in the womb, or approving of other doctor's doing so.

16 posted on 07/06/2011 1:36:02 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lame and ill-informed post)
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To: ComputerGuy

I was there from 83 to 85 .. then we went to Europe....


17 posted on 07/06/2011 1:41:39 AM PDT by Winstons Julia (when liberals rant, it's called free speech; when conservatives vent, it's called hate speech.)
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To: Melas

When there is conscription in place, the British military does allow for genuine conscientious objectors to serve in non-combatant positions. This has been the case since World War II (technically since World War I, actually, but the World War II system was much more effective and organised).

But at times when joining is completely voluntary as it is now, the situation is different. The position is that a conscientious objector simply should not join the military.

There is a procedure in place for somebody who becomes a conscientious objector after they joined to continue to serve, but they have to convince a panel that their change of heart is genuine. In the case of this man, it was decided that it was not.


18 posted on 07/06/2011 1:48:14 AM PDT by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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To: ComputerGuy

Damn fine man.


19 posted on 07/06/2011 1:50:57 AM PDT by packrat35 (America is rapidly becoming a police state that East Germany could be proud of!)
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To: ComputerGuy

“Congressional Medal of Honor winner Francis C. Hammond”

...I went there in the 70’s and graduated TC Williams. In the Hammond lobby they had a seal in the floor honoring Hammond. You were NOT to step on it. Disrespectful. Today, they’re probably peeing on it.


20 posted on 07/06/2011 4:14:06 AM PDT by albie
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