Hart Viges on becoming a conscientious objector after Iraq

Benjamin “Hart” Viges joined to defend America in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Hart quickly found himself as a mortar man attached with the 82nd Airborne. Later he participated in the initial invasion of Iraq. “After we killed enough people (with artillery), we moved into the town… I saw dogs fighting, donkeys fighting, birds fighting in the sky. It seemed like the violence from humans fighting spread out to the rest of life that lived there….I came head on with the question of how can I be a Christian and live the teaching of Jesus, and be a soldier at the same time?”