Service members are trying to find ways out early after anger over Iran war: 'It's been a mess'

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Source: The Independent

Friday 10 April 2026 10:18 EDT


U.S. service members are increasingly looking for ways to leave the military early rather than participate in President Donald Trump’s Iran war, a report has alleged. Almost 3,600 people, including at least 1,665 civilians, have been killed so far by the joint U.S.-Israeli airstrikes against Tehran that began on February 28, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency.

Many soldiers have taken to calling the 24-hour GI Rights Hotline run by the nonprofit Center on Conscience and War to express their concerns and frustration, NPR reports. Counseling director, Bill Galvin, told NPR he has noticed a sharp uptick in calls over the past month.

The bombing of a girls' school on the first day of the war, which left 165 civilians dead, many of them children, was frequently mentioned by Galvin’s anonymous callers, he said. “It comes up almost always. It’s like, ‘I can’t be a part of something that's doing that.’”. “It has been a mess, and many individuals feel frustration throughout the ranks,” Galvin added.

An anonymous member of the Ohio Air National Guard told NPR he had been particularly incensed by the death of three members of his old base in a refueling plane accident over Iraq last month that claimed six lives. “I think it was the most angry I've ever felt in my life,” he said. “In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to just leave and wash my hands of that place and just be done.”

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/iran-war-military-service-trump-b2955328.html

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Link to NPR REPORT - There's growing disquiet in the military. The Iran war made it worse