Bill Galvin has spent much of the past month answering the phone.
“It’s been very, very busy,” he says. Galvin is counseling director at the Center on Conscience and War, which helps run the 24-hour GI Rights Hotline that informs service members of options for military discharge.
Most callers ask how to apply to become conscientious objectors — a difficult, invasive and rarely used process — but they also air concerns anonymously. Many cite the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran as a powerful motivator. In March, Galvin’s center took on more than 80 new clients, nearly twice its usual yearly intake; the busiest day saw 12 new clients, one person reporting four platoonmates were also interested.
Those numbers are small compared with more than 1.3 million enlisted, but for outside observers and former officials, the calls signal a troubling disquiet within the ranks. NPR interviews with organizations and military members who work on retention or counseling describe an uptick in people seeking ways to leave the service — retiring early, declining to reenlist, seeking medical separations, or breaking contracts despite consequences. Experts say the pattern reflects low morale and ethical concerns that could erode retention, an essential pillar for preserving institutional knowledge.
“Retention is the only thing holding the Army up, from a metrics standpoint. And it is crumbling fast,” an Army career counselor told NPR on background, blaming climate and cultural shifts within the military under the current administration. “It has been a mess, and many individuals feel frustration throughout the ranks.”
Recruiting has rebounded since 2024, and the Pentagon reported in December that all five services met recruitment targets for fiscal year 2025. But experts note recruitment gains don’t erase retention problems; service members who decide to leave now may not show up in hard data for months or years. The Rand Corporation found recruitment shortfalls in 2023 but says improvements beginning under the Biden administration helped rebuild numbers.
Several factors are cited for the unrest. Conservative analyst Kori Schake says the Trump administration has dragged the military into culture wars, undermining meritocratic norms and discouraging both women and people of color and colleagues who worry about political pressure on promotions. Adam Weinstein of the Quincy Institute warns that perceived chaos in the Pentagon may deter future talent.
The immediate trigger for many callers, Galvin says, is a bombing of a girls’ school in Iran on the first day of the war that killed at least 165 civilians, many children. A preliminary U.S. assessment, according to a U.S. official not authorized to speak publicly, determined the U.S. was at fault; NPR earlier reported the school may have been listed on outdated target sets as a military building. “It comes up almost always. It’s like, ‘I can’t be a part of something that’s doing that,'” Galvin said.
The Pentagon pushed back on assertions of a retention crisis. “There are zero retention concerns for Fiscal Year 2026. Every service is meeting its targets, and any suggestion otherwise is completely false,” press secretary Kingsley Wilson told NPR. A White House spokesperson credited restored readiness and high recruitment numbers.
But many service members describe demoralizing changes since Trump returned to the presidency: deployments of National Guard to Democratic-led cities, strikes on Venezuelan vessels, efforts to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s major Pentagon restructuring that included firing senior officers and intervening in promotions. One anonymous official called Hegseth the “Secretary of Culture Wars,” warning such moves accelerate a “brain drain.”
Several veterans and current service members say demand for separation counseling has spiked. The Army counselor said 2025 brought a surge of retirees seeking help, nearly double 2024 in their experience. First-term troops are increasingly asking how to leave active duty early for the Individual Ready Reserve. Transition Assistance Program slots — a mandatory service recently expanded to all separating members — have been hard to book. One recently retired Air Force officer said coordinators reported unprecedented demand.
A particularly time-consuming path out is applying for conscientious objector (CO) status — for service members who come to morally oppose war. In 1970, the Supreme Court ruled religious belief is not required to claim CO status, opening the path to broader moral objections. Mike Prysner, executive director of the Center on Conscience and War and an Army veteran, says many recent clients cite Israel’s war in Gaza and U.S. military support for Israel as turning points that led them to question war more broadly.
Since Trump’s second term began, the center saw surges around moments such as the National Guard deployment to Los Angeles; when the U.S. and Israel launched the Iran war, calls shifted dramatically. The center went from a handful of calls a week to three or four a day asking about CO status, Prysner said. Callers now span ranks and specialties: Special Forces, Top Gun pilots, surgeons, and a highest-ranking CO client at the rank of major.
Applying to be a CO is arduous: a written statement, psychological evaluation, interviews with a chaplain and an investigating officer, and often months or years of review. But once a CO application is submitted, the service member is typically removed from duties they object to, which can be a way to avoid imminent deployment. Galvin and others say that recently they have helped people file brief statements to get on record when deployment was days or even hours away.
Quaker House, which helps run the hotline, reports call volume more than doubled since the Iran war began, with most callers asking about the CO process. Steve Woolford, a Quaker House counselor, says many callers do not identify as pacifists; they consider themselves willing to defend the country but are deeply unsettled by how the military is being used and fear being asked to carry out illegal orders or be complicit in war crimes. He counsels on alternatives such as medical separation or reassignment when appropriate.
Some service members describe acute personal reactions. A full-time Ohio Air National Guard member called the GI Rights Hotline the day after the Iran war began. He’d been grappling with his military role under the Trump administration for months and sought separation options. When three airmen from his base were among six killed in a refueling accident in Iraq on March 12, he said his anger peaked. “I think it was the most angry I’ve ever felt in my life,” he told NPR, asking to remain unnamed to avoid complicating his separation. With more than two years left on his contract, he has begun applying for civilian jobs and expects the decision to leave will be “a weight off my back.”
Karl, a former military physician honorably discharged as a CO in March after applying in 2025, called the process “an enormous undertaking” and “terrifying” but said it was necessary for his conscience. He encouraged others to reflect on their service: “It is legal for people to question. It may not be comfortable, but it is legal. And while we have those rights, then you’re free to exercise them.”
While the Pentagon emphasizes recruitment successes and readiness, counselors and career officials on the ground describe rising demand for exit counseling, CO applications, and assistance. Whether those trends will translate into measurable retention declines remains unclear — many who decide to separate won’t show up in official statistics for months. But counselors and some service members say the moral questions and leadership decisions driving the unrest are real and widespread, spanning ranks and specialties. For those questioning their role, the process of exploring separation — however difficult — can also bring a sense of relief and clarity.