ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, June 17, 1996 TAG: 9606170004
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NORFOLK
SOURCE: BILL SIZEMORE LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
NORFOLK QUAKER HOUSE acted as a resource for Josh Dworak as he explored his beliefs about war, and provided support for him during the process of attaining conscientious objector status.
Josh Dworak joined the Navy for the same reasons lots of people do. He wanted to break out of his hometown, Lincoln, Neb., and see the world. And he needed money for college.
He was trained as a personnelman, a clerical job. But it wasn't until he was assigned to the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier George Washington that the reality of his new life hit him squarely in the face.
It was during shipboard training about a month after he joined the crew.
``The instructor asked us if we knew what the purpose of the ship was and what our role in it was,'' Dworak recalled. ``A lot of us described our jobs: `I'm a personnelman, I do paperwork.'
``And he corrected us by saying, `This ship's purpose is to be able to draw up along the shore of any country in the world, bomb the hell out of it and return. And your job is to make sure the ship can carry out that function.'
``And then it hit me: No matter what little part I played, I was still a gear in that machine.''
The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he became. Eventually he began a laborious process that resulted last month in his discharge from the Navy as a conscientious objector to military service.
Conscientious objectors probably have been around as long as warriors have. But since the end of the Vietnam War and the advent of the all-volunteer force, their numbers have declined markedly.
Lloyd Lee and Susan Wilson would like to reverse that trend.
The Wilsons are Quakers. Here in the shadow of the world's largest naval complex, they and like-minded members of the historically pacifist church have set out on a quest to offer a peaceful alternative to militarism.
In a bungalow on Tidewater Drive, they operate Norfolk Quaker House, a counseling center for military personnel who develop doubts about what they are doing. They also hope to reach out to young people who are considering the military life but haven't yet made the commitment, and show them there are other options.
They say Dworak is one of their early success stories.
After that moment of realization aboard the George Washington, Dworak, 24, began re-examining his core beliefs. He devoured reading material put out by Greenpeace, Food Not Bombs and other peace-oriented organizations.
He also began reading the New Testament in a new light. Reared in a nondenominational evangelical church, he had been regularly exposed to the Bible. ``But I wasn't really looking into the Bible for myself,'' he said. ``I was just taking what I was being told.''
Now he looked at the words of Christ through a different lens. ``I noticed that a lot of what Jesus said was really not as pro-war as I used to think,'' he said.
He began discussing his inner upheaval with the ship's chaplain. But he found few sympathetic ears among his shipmates.
That's when he discovered the Wilsons.
A friend gave him the Quaker House phone number. Once they made contact, the Wilsons kept up a regular correspondence with Dworak as the George Washington participated in war games off the coast and embarked on a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf.
To some degree, the Wilsons' role was one of moral support. ``A carrier can be a lonely place for someone with Josh's convictions,'' Lloyd Lee Wilson said.
But the counseling had a more practical side, too. The Wilsons helped Dworak negotiate the maze of regulations and forms involved in getting a discharge. They even role-played the hearing where he would have to make his case to an investigating officer.
Three and a half months after submitting his application for discharge, Dworak received an honorable discharge and was flown back to Norfolk.
Set against Hampton Roads' massive military presence, the Wilsons' humble effort might seem hopeless to some. But the odds don't seem to bother them.
Lloyd Lee Wilson put it this way: ``The New Testament doesn't talk a whole lot about success. It talks a lot about faithfulness.''
``To not live that way when you've been called to live that way is unfaithful,'' Susan Wilson said. ``It's cowardice.''
AP-DS-06-06-96 1208E l
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: MIKE HEFFNER/Landmark News Service Susan Wilson is aby CNBcounselor at the Norfolk Quaker House in Virginia Beach, a center to
assist conscientious objectors such as Josh Dworak (right). Color.