Unease is growing in the military. The Iran war made it worse

0:00After returning to office, President Trump did not waste time leaning into his role as commander-in-in-chief. He decided to use the National Guard to bolster immigration enforcement. President Trump is sending 2 ,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles. Officers from more than a dozen federal agencies have converged on Memphis, Tennessee. Hundreds of National Guard troops have arrived in Illinois. Those troops sent to Chicago were not there just to support the ICE operation the administration referred to as Operation Midway Blitz. The president said they were also there to fight crime.

0:34Then the Trump administration set its sights on Venezuela, striking Venezuelan boats and claiming this was in the name of preventing illegal drugs from entering the U.S. President Trump announced the U.S. had carried out a strike in the southern Caribbean against a drug-carrying vessel that departed from Venezuela. President Trump announced early this morning that U.S. forces have carried out what he called a large-scale strike against Venezuela and captured President Nicolas Maduro. Then came the end of February. The United States and Israel have carried out joint airstrikes against Iran today.

1:12The president, who spent nearly a decade promising to end forever wars, went to war with Iran. I just don't believe in what the military stands for, what we're doing. I think we're on the wrong path. Consider this. President Trump has been using the U.S. military in new and aggressive ways. How is it affecting the troops? From NPR, I'm Mary Louise Kelly.

2:03handles it. Calculating, filing, validating, accurately, and audit defensively. Automatically. Avalara. Agentic tax and compliance with confidence.

2:20It's Consider This from NPR. Unease is growing in the ranks of the U.S. military. Since President Trump began his second term, his controversial use of the armed forces, both at home and abroad, has left some service members unsettled, demoralized, and the Iran war has made those feelings worse, as NPR's Kat Lonsdorff reports. Bill Galvin has spent much of the past month answering the phone. Good afternoon, Center on Conscience and War in the GRIT's hotline. This is Bill. Galvin is the counseling director at the Center on Conscience and War in Washington, D.C. The center helps run the 24-hour GI rights hotline, where service members can call in anonymously to talk through their options for discharge.

3:04Galvin says that since the U.S. and Israel launched the war against Iran at the end of February, it's been busy. We're getting calls from people who are going to be deployed like within days or sometimes even the next day. Galvin says most callers are asking how to apply to become a conscientious objector, a difficult, invasive, and rarely used process that requires a service member to demonstrate how their views on war have changed after they voluntarily enlisted. In March alone, the center took on more than 80 new clients interested in starting that process, almost twice as many as they take on in an average year.

3:37Those numbers are a drop in the bucket when compared to the more than 1.3 million people who serve. But the calls and conversations are an indication of disquiet within the ranks, feelings that have been growing over the past year. When Iran hit, I think it was kind of like a detonator for all of those things that had been building. Mike Preissner is the center's executive director and an Army veteran. He says in Trump's second term, calls have surged around specific moments, like when the National Guard and Marines were deployed to Los Angeles, or the ongoing U.S. strikes on boats in the Caribbean.

4:07But when the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran started, there was a significant increase, with people calling from across the ranks. Maybe just as many officers as enlisted people. I mean, people who are in highly professional, highly accomplished fields. But becoming a conscientious objector doesn't quite fit for many who call the hotline. We've also had a lot of calls from people who don't identify as nonviolent or pacifists. Steve Wolford is a resource counselor with Quaker House, which also helps run the hotline, and provides counseling and support to service members who are questioning their role in the military.

4:43They identify as like everyday service members who are willing to defend the country, but feel very unsettled and suspicious about the ways the military is being used now. The calls to the GI rights hotline are part of a larger pattern of military members seeking ways to end their service, according to NPR interviews. Service members NPR talked to say they have seen undeniable cracks in the military's ability to retain troops, largely due to low morale or ethical concerns. One career counselor with the Army, who wasn't authorized to speak publicly, told NPR, quote, Retention is the only thing holding the Army up from a metric standpoint, and it is crumbling fast.

5:22They said that the climate and cultural shifts within the military under this administration are the main reasons people are giving for leaving. When asked about retention, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson wrote in an email to NPR, quote, There are zero retention concerns for fiscal year 2026. Every service is meeting its targets, and any suggestion otherwise is completely false. But experts say that any hard data on service members starting to leave now wouldn't show up for months or even years. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has also embarked on a systematic dismantling of DEI programs and major restructuring at the Pentagon.

5:57That upheaval sends a signal to upcoming talent, says Adam Weinstein of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. When you see chaos within the U.S. military to some degree, is at least coming out of the Pentagon, what message does that send to the best and brightest who might want to make a career out of the U.S. military? Corey Schalke of the conservative American Enterprise Institute says some of the turmoil stems from the Trump administration, quote, dragging the military into the culture wars. She pointed to the recent incident where Hegseth intervened to stop the promotions of four officers, two black and two female, to one-star generals.

6:31It is not just women and people of color in the service who are feeling discouraged. It's people who wonder whether the military can preserve its inclusive meritocracy under the kind of political pressure that major politicians are putting it under. Some military members are choosing to retire early or not to re-enlist when their contracts are up, according to those who spoke with NPR. Others are applying for medical separation or breaking their enlistment contracts regardless of the consequences. I just don't believe in what the military stands for, what we're doing. I think we're on the wrong path.

7:10This is a full-time member of the Ohio Air National Guard. He asked NPR not to use his name as he's currently looking to separate from the military and thinks talking to the press could make that more difficult. He says he'd been struggling with his role in the military, especially under the Trump administration, for months. But then three airmen from his base were among six killed in a refueling accident in Iraq in March during the Iran war. I think it was the most angry I've ever felt in my life. He says he decided then that he had to get out. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to just leave and wash my hands of that place and just be done.

7:44He's been with the Guard for more than a decade and still has more than two years left on his contract. but he started applying to jobs outside the military. He says he doesn't know what the ramifications of that decision will be, but he's willing to deal with them, whatever they are. Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Washington. This episode was produced by Tyler Bartlom. It was edited by Courtney Dorning and Andrew Sussman. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Mary Louise Kelly.

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