Posted on 07/18/2015 12:23:23 PM PDT by lafroste
First off, I would like to thank you all for the great advice I received on FR for an invention of mine. You may like to know that I have followed your advice, did a patent search, looked up links and read them, and am preparing my micro-patent submission. However, this post involves an entirely different subject.
Here is my query: My son graduated this year (2015) from high school. He is 17. He took the ASVAB his junior year, and scored exceptionally high (97). He has been told by several different recruiters that he scored the highest in this entire region. So he went shopping for the best deal he could get from the US armed forces. He settled on the Navy Nuc Engineering program as what he wanted to pursue. (we are pretty broke and cannot fund a traditional 4 year college education without incurring debt, which I have forbidden him to do.)
He was accepted into the Nuc program, after all tests, physicals, ad nauseum. Then he was told no. No nuc program for him.
The reason was that he was not eligible for the requisite security level due to his ancestry. He is 1/2 ethnic Han chinese and 1/2 purebred American mutt (me). He was born in the US (Raleigh, NC) of a mother who was a LEGAL US permanent resident and a natural born US father (me). His mother achieved US naturalization as a US citizen when he was 3.
Yes he speaks Mandarin, yes he speaks Cantonese. Yes, he has a large number of relatives in PR China. Most of his relatives are elderly and retired due to China's one child policy.
However, he is a natural born US citizen. The Navy claims it is simply following DoD guidelines, but we have caught them in a lie 3 different times.
I would appreciate hearing from our veteran freepers on this issue. And we have already instigated a congressional investigation.
all comments welcome, but he IS an American.
as a former navy nuc submariner, you have my sympathies, however, it sounds like you’re pursuing every reasonable avenue.
Not entirely surprising.
Back in the ‘70s we had a guy in our squadron we tried to get a TS clearance for, but failed as he had cousins living in Czechoslovakia.
“The Navy claims it is simply following DoD guidelines, but we have caught them in a lie 3 different times.”
Specifics.
I have long since retired from the United States Navy but I would suggest contacting your representative/congresscritter.
I do know that even when a person retires from the military then one never loses security clearance unless one does something really bad.
Approach an alphabet agency that needs fluent Mandarin speakers. They will also pay college bills.
Or choose a different branch of the military and a different job.
we are pretty broke and cannot fund a traditional 4 year college education without incurring debt, which I have forbidden him to do.
Have y'all considered an ROTC Scholarship?
If you don’t mind me going off topic....
Do NOT let lack of funds dissuade him or you from applying to college. Financial aid is abundant, especially at the best schools. The bigger the name, the more money they have to give. For much of their liberal bias, I will credit their actions in this area - the best colleges do not want their classes filled with only the children of the rich. State universities have the same philosophy, and many have great science and engineering schools and also have lower costs. It sounds like your child has the smarts to apply anywhere. Give applications a try - you might be very pleasantly surprised.
If he speaks (and writes?) Chinese, as well as English, he can easily get a job at a US company with operations in China. He is as marketable as marketable gets. Start at Indeed.com.
Incidentally, have him read, “The Millionaire Next Door.” Most self made millionaires do not get full college educations. They take the courses they need. (Most of college is just a means of getting money out of the student with no practical use.)
Sorry for the denial of your son.
Unfortunately he’s half asian, (not that this is a negative to the rest of us) but were he a halfrican or a muslim, he’d be in.
As a former Nuc electrician (submarines), I would first like to thank you for spelling it right. Even most Nucs think that it’s spelled “Nuke”.
Who told you that he can’t be a Nuc? Did you push it up the chain of command a bit to find out exactly why? I once had a student in Idaho who was in a situation like yours, except that he was Polish or something that was in the Warsaw Pact (it was 1983), however he was born in the US to an American and a naturalized citizen.
But, part of the way through prototype training, NIS (is wasn’t NCIS in those days) came and took him out of school because they discovered that he had traveled to Poland several times as a teenager and it was the visits that disqualified him, not the ancestry.
Go higher up the chain of command. Have them give you the exact DOD regulation they are talking about. It doesn’t sound right to me. Recruiters say what they have to say to get that signature. I got a 98 on my ASVAB back in Fresno and they told me I would be Admiral of the Coast Guard in 4 years (exaggerating but you get the idea)... There may be some contacts at the regional MEPS center. Talk to your federal representative as well if you can’t get any answers.
It seems the Navy would be thrilled to have him, keep him, and get him ready for OCT. Fluent in both major Chinese dialects? The kid is a gold mine with China’s hijinks around the world.
Failing all else, have him fit for a dress with rainbow flags and sneak him in the PC way. Once in go back to being a red blooded American.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Sad that we have a president whom we don’t even know his real name and a natural born red blooded American is getting hassled by the Navy.
The Army or Air Force would scoop him up for military intelligence, I would think.
2. He needs to get a form from the Chinese embassy that he is not eligible for citizenship in PR china-- Answer: PR China outlawed duel citizenship in 2010. We actually went to the PRC embassy in DC, and after helicopter flyovers and agents of PRC questioned us they said that no such form existed.
3. They claimed that tensions between US and PRC were high, thus his familial connections were suspect. We asked them, in light of 2 above, how do you judge that. They said: policy.
and I’ll add to that, what about an appointment to Annapolis ?
If only he were a Muslim, or gay, or transgendered.
The recruiter told him. He did spend the summer in Guangzhou when he was 15, but that was to cure alopecia (which worked),
I agree with 2ndDivisionVet. Unfortunately what likely tripped him up was the fact of his having relatives in PRC. That catches a lot of people trying to get clearances as well. Be that as it may, as others advised, you ought to pursue this - it may have been a knee-jerk reaction.
They are lying to you all around. And unfortunately that is not all that unusual. recruiters will say and do anything to get their numbers.
How about community college? Do well there and he can apply for scholarship money for the four year. Either that or work his way through. The Navy isn’t going to teach him nuclear engineering. It will throw some little bit of theory at him but it is not the same as taking an engineering degree with a specialty in nuclear.
Can you document that there have been no “regular and ongoing” contacts with said PRC relatives - by you or your spouse? That would be another factor.
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