After World War II, a US Army study revealed that three quarters of combat soldiers given the chance to fire on the enemy failed to do so. Despite training, 'the average individual has such an inner resistance toward killing a fellow man that he will not take a life if it is possible not to.'

The military developed Reflexive Fire Training as a technique to overcome this inhibition. It helped raise firing rates in combat but it made the soldier's insensitive to their actions. 'When you train them reflexively, they learn to make those decisions much more quickly. They're not thinking through the great moral decision of killing another human being.'

The film follows eight US soldiers, four who were willing to kill, and four who become conscientious objectors after their "crystallization of conscience". Mejia was the first combat veteran to come back from Iraq and publicly refuse to return. "Nothing ever prepares you for what that does to you as a human being...to kill an innocent person". For Benderman, witnessing war's impact on civilians triggered a 'deep-down, soul-searching reflection'. Casteel's turnaround came when he worked as an interrogator at Abu Ghraib. Delgado saw only fellow men, not enemies. 'It's the nature of war to set the other apart, because you can't kill someone who's like yourself.'

But others defend killing in war as a moral imperative: 'No one likes to kill, no healthy person.... It may be nasty, it may be unpleasant, but the alternative is worse.' Soldiers like Major Kilner use strong arguments to justify killing in war. 'You can't say that you believe in human dignity and human rights if you're not willing to defend them'. All express a keen sense of duty. 'War is necessary sometimes because it's been brought upon peace-loving people by people who are not willing to let another society live in peace'.

'When you're out there in the middle of combat, sometimes it's kill or be killed,' says Sgt. Washington, who also admits, 'When you get into the first battle and you actually wound or kill someone, it starts messing with your head ... it's just like shaking up a pop bottle with your thumb over it'.

Conscientious objectors or not, all soldiers featured in this film are respectfully portrayed and strikingly eloquent about their dilemma. In the field, the decision to kill becomes a devastatingly personal one, no matter how clear the balance of right and wrong. As the international stage resounds ever louder with the terrible impact of man's killing devices it's certainly a timely documentary.

"This thought-provoking P.O.V. doc examines why some some soldiers become conscientious objectors and how they are subsequently treated by the military authorities. Grade: A -"
- Entertainment Weekly

"Soldiers of Conscience explores the moral dilemmas of eight U.S. soldiers who struggle daily
with the question of whether killing is ever justified."
- The Washington Post

"A thoughtful, challenging, and remarkably wide-ranging examination of the nature of war
and its alternatives."
- John Hartl, Seattle Times

"The documentary series [P.O.V.] checks in another eye-opening portrait."
- Amber Ray, Metro New York

"Soldiers of Conscience is about wars, those that men fight against one another and those they fight against their deepest human impulses. ... [A] thoughtful and disquieting film..."
- Glenn Garvin, The Miami Herald

Emmy Nomination 2009
Best Documentary - Salem Film Festival (2008)
Best Documentary - Bend Film Festival (2008)
Best Documentary - Rhode Island International Film Festival (2007)
Best Film (Conflict And Resolution Category) - Hamptons International Film Festival (2007)
Best Documentary - Foyle Film Festival, Northern Ireland (2007)
Finalist - Best Documentary - Denver Film Festival (2007)

Directed and Produced by
Gary Weimberg and Catherine Ryan

Soldiers of Conscience has been nominated for the 30th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Editing.