THE MILITARY / SOME DISSENT : Anti-War Sentiment Is Seen Growing in the Armed Forces : Reservists are reported seeking conscientious objector status.

In Hawaii, Cpl. Jeff Paterson, 22, of Hollister, Calif., is facing a military tribunal after he applied for conscientious objector status and refused to board a troop transport plane bound for the Middle East.

In the Bay Area, Erik Larsen, 23, of Hayward, a lance corporal in the Marine Corps reserves, has declared himself a conscientious objector and said he will refuse any orders to report for active duty.

“No war for big oil! Send the troops home!” Larsen shouted at an Aug. 30 Berkeley demonstration against the U.S. troop deployment. The government so far has taken no action against him.

In this era of the all-volunteer armed forces, people who willingly signed up seemingly will have a tough time making a case that they are morally opposed to all war and killing, prerequisites for conscientious objector status.

SURGE REPORTED: But in a quiet side effect of the military buildup that began after Iraq’s Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait, anti-war groups across the country are reporting a major surge in inquiries from teen-agers, military reservists and active duty personnel who do not want to ship out to Saudi Arabia.

Anti-war counselors argue that the military has misled recruits by stressing opportunities for job training and education, and soft-pedaling the true mission of the armed forces--preparing for war.

“We’ve gotten more than 500 calls, probably about 520, in the last three weeks” at the Philadelphia office alone, said Harold Jordan, national coordinator of the youth and militarism program of the American Friends Service Committee.

The War Resisters League in New York City reported an eightfold to tenfold increase in inquiries. And a spokesman for the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors in San Francisco said an informal national survey of anti-war counselors indicated that as many as 85 reservists and active duty personnel have taken steps in the last month to file for conscientious objector status.

Military personnel recognized as conscientious objectors are discharged or assigned noncombatant duty.

MILITARY VIEW: However, military officials said it is too early to tell if the reports from the counseling centers are accurate. Regardless, the officials said that even 85 requests would represent a minuscule portion of the 2 million men and women on active duty in the American armed forces. The four branches of the service each year grant conscientious objector status to about 200 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.

“It’s really too early to tell anything,” said Col. Joseph Allred, an Army spokesman, because applications for conscientious objector discharges typically don’t reach Washington until several months after they are filed with local commanders.

“We’re hearing from the (counseling) agencies. . . . I also hear from recruiters that we’re getting hundreds of calls from people who want to sign up. . . . We just take all of those things with a grain of salt.”

But Jim Klimaski, a partner in a Washington law firm that specializes in military law, said: “When most kids play war games and hold a stick and run around . . . it’s a game. In the National Guard and the reserves, you run around with a real gun, but it’s still a game. . . . But now you’re talking about going somewhere where they’re actually going to shoot back at you.”

Allred, the Army spokesman, dismissed the argument that recruiters mislead anyone. “There isn’t a recruiter in the business who doesn’t say at some point during the interview stage that military service may require them to defend the country with their lives,” he said.