Posted on 12/26/2006 10:03:00 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
WASHINGTON -- The armed forces, already struggling to meet recruiting goals, are considering expanding the number of noncitizens in the ranks -- including disputed proposals to open recruiting stations overseas and putting more immigrants on a faster track to US citizenship if they volunteer -- according to Pentagon officials.
Foreign citizens serving in the US military is a highly charged issue, which could expose the Pentagon to criticism that it is essentially using mercenaries to defend the country. Other analysts voice concern that a large contingent of noncitizens under arms could jeopardize national security or reflect badly on Americans' willingness to serve in uniform.
The idea of signing up foreigners who are seeking US citizenship is gaining traction as a way to address a critical need for the Pentagon, while fully absorbing some of the roughly one million immigrants that enter the United States legally each year.
The proposal to induct more noncitizens, which is still largely on the drawing board, has to clear a number of hurdles. So far, the Pentagon has been quiet about specifics -- including who would be eligible to join, where the recruiting stations would be, and what the minimum standards might involve, including English proficiency. In the meantime, the Pentagon and immigration authorities have expanded a program that accelerates citizenship for legal residents who volunteer for the military.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
I spent many hours parading around for same.
Not false. We have raised the age to enlist, we have lowered the testing standards, we have lowered the criminal record standards. The Army just made the goal for the first time in several quarters. They are struggling to make goal even with the lowered standards.
We are not discussing expanding the military. Where are these troops coming from if we have to let 42 year old high school drop outs with drug offenses in to meet goals now? Our young people need to step up to the plate, or foreigners will do it for them.
Then you have stop-loss and callbacks...
I served during the end of the cold war. We had no problems making numbers. I joined around the time Gorby took over in the USSR. We had a larger military. What is the problem with our youth? Seriously. Our nation was attacked, and we can't get people to join. We thought that nuclear war could happen. Worldwide conflict, yet we joined. Now, with a smaller military, huge cash bonuses (that would have come in handy for me), we are now looking to oursource to foreign labor.
This is a stupid idea.
Isn't that what destroyed the Roman army?
Hope they recruit Ethiopians, the seem to be getting the job done in Somalia.
Seriously though, I'm appalled. Just what we need soldiers with no loyalty to the US.
Seems to me we have had enough of those of the homegrown kind, Jon Cary comes to mind.
My experience as a personnel clerk was that it was not so much a sense of adventure that motivated volunteers as a sense of (first) anti-communism and (second) duty to country. As I recall now, there were just as many volunteers for Vietnam in their 20s/college dropouts (like me) as there were volunteers in their teens.
OTOH, as I recall it, the volunteers for Germany/Korea were mostly the lifers who had been busted down to PFC on article 15s, usually for alcohol related stupidities. That was just as good. A major problem in Vietnam was the alcohol related stupidities.
I know a heck of a lot of very good Americans who came on board this way. Most are Phillipinos.
"I served during the end of the cold war. We had no problems making numbers. I joined around the time Gorby took over in the USSR. We had a larger military. What is the problem with our youth? Seriously. Our nation was attacked, and we can't get people to join."
That is the real issue, where are the millions of young men?
What an ignorant Globe reporter. Maybe he's a Kennedy in-law, or a Kerry in-law. Got his job somehow.
Anyway, they're not struggling nearly as much as the Boston Globe is to meet readership goals!!!
Thirty-five years ago, I knew a Pakistani in the army. If you were here legally, you were subject to the draft, And when you got out, you were NOT eligible for citizenship.
Part of it is, I think, our entitlement mentality, and part is perhaps the idea that they don't want to risk their lives in Iraq when they don't (due at least in part to the media) see it as directly related to the war on terror.
On the other hand, I know a number of fine young men & women who are making, or plan to make, a career of the military. I'm in the rural South, however, where military service has always been regarded pretty highly.
There are about 37 million Americans 65 and over, 11 million who have served in the military.
I didn't break it down by sex because it just exacerbates the problem since more women serve now than ever before.
As for citizenship for service, I'm all for it.
Yes, and everything seems to move at an accelerated pace today. How long do you think it would take us to reach a comaparble stage?
Don't answer until rechecking public schools' curricula, college faculties, make up of the media....
true enough..and dunna forget German Vets...added to the mix of Airborne and Rangers, they created a heckuva stew.
Great post!
Our BN re-enlistmant NCO felt the same way and actually encouraged fence sitters to get out. There was no way in hell that I was going to stay in.
..my faithful bunkie at PI was a Canuck. Served with other Canadians, a few Irishman and a Brazlian. And a Pole that got out E&E.
Still, care must be taken less we drift into a Legion mindset. We Do have a Constitution and something called citizenship. We ain't Frenchies with a Legion.
Interesting is that SF came to the fore with the Eastern threat in Europe. Inducted a good number from Der Ost including Germans.
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