NEWSFLASH: Bernie Sanders was NOT a Conscientious Objector during Vietnam.

[HassleCat]

27. I looked into it

When I was about to be drafted, I checking into the status called AO-1. That means you object, but are willing to serve in a non-combat capacity, usually the medical or communications services. At that time, AO-1 was relatively easy to get, since the military had a need for medical and communications people, and they made no objection if somebody wanted to be AO-1. Straight up CO status was much harder, and usually required letters from religious figures, or something of that nature, confirming that the applicant had a religious or moral belief that precluded his participation in any way. At that time, however, not all wars were off limits. Some applicants were successful when they held a specific objection to the Vietnam War, not all wars. They could avoid the "all war" question by claiming it was a hypothetical, and they were not objecting to hypothetical wars, only the real war for which they were to be drafted. I don't know the success rate on this approach, but I know it worked for some applicants.