Airman Becomes U.S. Citizen

Defense News ^ | Staff Sgt. Don Branum

[SandRat]

SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo., July 13, 2006 — The newly elected president of the Schriever Airmen's Council, who joined the Air Force in 2004, is one of the 50th Space Wing's newest American citizens.

Airman 1st Class Zully Renon originally pursued citizenship so she would be eligible to re-enlist but said she has grown to appreciate what it means to be an American.

After going into basic training "open general" — meaning the Air Force would assign her to a career field that met their needs — Renon found herself in the finance career field. She came to Schriever following her technical training.

‘You realize as you go through the citizenship process what rights you have as a U.S. citizen, and how lucky you are to be in this country.’

Airman 1st Class Zully Renon

When she started asking about her career options, she found she would need to be an American citizen before she could consider re-enlistment.

"I decided to become a U.S. citizen because I wanted that opportunity," she said. "I like being here, and working in an Air Force environment is something I want to do as a career."

Her path toward citizenship started in 1988 when she and most of her family moved to Washington state from Mexico. Her father, who had been in the United States since 1976, brought the rest of the family to live with him because of the better living conditions.

They lived in Washington for five years; many members of her family worked in apple orchards. Renon keeps a photo

of her family in the orchard in her cubicle next to a photo of her husband, Pablo, and her children, 9-year-old Bella and 7-year-old P.J.

"Those are my hard-working days," she said with a laugh.

A short list of her accomplishments since coming to Schriever shows that she works just as hard now. She is an active volunteer among the junior enlisted, volunteering for events such as the Veterans Home Run and encouraging other airmen to participate. She served the Airmen's Council as vice president in 2005 before being elected its president this year.

She worked just as hard to become an American citizen, studying material on American history and government as part of the naturalization process. Her membership in the Air Force expedited the process.

"I turned in my paperwork in January of this year and heard back around March," she said. "They took my fingerprints for a background check, and I went through a simple interview."

On June 16, she raised her right hand and took her oath of citizenship.

"You realize as you go through the citizenship process what rights you have as a U.S. citizen, and how lucky you are to be in this country," she said.

The oath shares a common pledge with her oath of enlistment: to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

The rights and values written into the Constitution are things no citizen — naturalized or American-born — should take for granted, she said.

"People should learn more about the history of how the U.S. came about and what we stand for," she said.

[SandRat]

The rights and values written into the Constitution are things no citizen — naturalized or American-born — should take for granted, she said.

"People should learn more about the history of how the U.S. came about and what we stand for," she said.

[AirForceBrat23]

Welcome home Zully!!!!

[burzum]

"They took my fingerprints for a background check, and I went through a simple interview."

That is something I don't understand. She already had been fingerprinted to enlist, and those fingerprints are already in the FBI database. I think I was fingerprinted 3 or 4 times when I was in the Navy (once or twice at MEPS, and 2 more times for security clearances). Why? How many times do my fingerprints need to be in the FBI database before they can do a background check? Oh, and my total is probably 5 for my CCW (which came back late probably because the local police thought I was some crazy felon for having so many entries and background checks).