In November 2004 Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Pablo Paredes, then 23, refused to board a troop ship headed for the Persian Gulf. “I refuse to go,” he told officers. “”I feel in my mind and heart that this war is illegal and immoral.” In May 2005 he was court-martialed and sentenced to 3 months hard labor. He was denied conscientious objector status. Since being discharged he has become a well-known anti-war activist and is currently a staff member on the GI Rights Hotline.