He was one of six GIs who in June 1970 refused orders to go to Vietnam and who faced courts-martial at that time. This was the largest mass refusal of direct orders to Vietnam during the war and they became known as the Fort Lewis Six. Dix was immediately thrown into the military stockade at the base for pre-trial confinement, an unusual move contrary to military regulations. The local GI underground newspaper, the "Lewis-McChord Free Press" reported that base "regulation 27-2 explicitly states that pre-trial confinement is to be used only when there is danger" of self-harm or flight, neither of which applied to Dix. And things went downhill from there according to Dix. In their courts-martial, "The military judge made it very clear he wasn't listening. He says, 'You guys can make your arguments for the record, I am not going to consider them, I don't care what you have to say'". Dix was imprisoned for two years in Leavenworth Military Penitentiary. He commented at the time, "I just have to exist, to be my own man, and accept the consequences. If I had continued to participate in the Army, I wouldn't be able to relate to myself or humanity."