Michael E. Bratcher v. Robert S. McNamara Secretary of Defense

This case has been remanded by the Supreme Court for our further consideration in light of a change of position by the government on the issue of exhaustion of administrative remedies in relation to servicemen seeking court relief from military duty on grounds of conscientious objection to such duty. Brat-cher v. Laird, 397 U.S. 246 , 90 S.Ct. 1108 , 25 L.Ed.2d 281 (1970). Our original opinion is found at 415 F.2d 760 . Briefly re-stated, the record discloses that appellant Bratcher enlisted in the United States Army on January 23, 1966 without' prior indication of any conscientious scruples against war. However, after something in excess of a year of service as a medical corpsman, he began to resist military authority and from June 10, 1967 to June 16 of that year was absent from his duty station without leave. Following his apprehension by military police on June 16, 1967, he, for the first time, filed a written statement of his beliefs as a conscientious objector. At about the same time he defied certain direct orders to perform non-combatant type duties (i e., to cut weeds growing behind the hospital buildings). Specifications of court martial charges alleging absence without…