The captain of Boertje-Obed’s unit sent him to see the colonel who commanded the battalion. The colonel had served in Vietnam. He listened carefully to Boertje-Obed and agreed that wearing the mask for hours was impractical. The colonel said that the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union should be forced to wear those masks – it would make them seek peace. Instead of trying to talk Boertje-Obed out of quitting the army, he explained the procedures for becoming a conscientious objector.

Boertje-Obed left the army, returned to Baton Rouge, and took theology classes at LSU. He became involved in anti-nuclear activism, studied non-violent resistance with Daniel Berrigan, moved to Jonah House, and lived there for seventeen years. Boertje-Obed and Philip Berrigan painted houses together three or four times a week and planned break-ins at nuclear-weapons sites. Boertje-Obed’s life became a series of protests, arrests, jailings, and imprisonments on behalf of peace. At one point, like the Berrigans, he went on the run. But that was an exception. On a fundamental level, he accepted responsibility for his actions. When a court-appointed attorney tried to persuade a jury that he was innocent during a Plowshares trial, pointing to the absence of fingerprints or photographs linking him to the scene, Boertje-Obed stood up, told the jury he’d done it, and started to explain why. The judge cited him for contempt of court.

In the months leading up to the Y-12 break-in, Boertje-Obed was happily married, living at the Loaves and Fishes Catholic Worker House in Duluth, and painting houses. One of the few times that he cross-examined a government witness during the trial in Knoxville was to question the amount of paint that Babcock & Wilcox bought to cover up the graffiti. He thought a hundred gallons sounded excessive.

One of Boertje-Obed’s favourite books was introduced as evidence by the prosecutors. He’d brought a copy of it into the Protected Area at Y-12. Christian Idolatry/Christian Revival (1993) was written by a friend of his, Kurt Greenhalgh. The book criticizes the sinfulness and corruption of most contemporary churches, the wide gulf between their practices and Christ’s teachings. And it warns Christians not to obey the militaristic, idolatrous, man-made laws of the nation state: ‘History is not kind to those who exalt themselves.’