Most conscientious objectors are NOT reservists

One common myth about conscientious objectors in the US is that they are reservists who took the government’s money to pay for college but then refused to fulfill their end of the bargain.  This graph, however, shows that most conscientious objectors are in fact full-time, active duty personnel:

The data was obtained from two Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports on conscientious objection.  Report GAO/NSIAD-94-35 covers conscientious objection during the First Persian Gulf War, and report GAO-07-1196 covers conscientious objection during Operation Iraqi Freedom.