Posted on 12/05/2008 7:17:32 PM PST by thetru
AP Exclusive: Pentagon to recruit aliens on visas
Digg Facebook Newsvine del.icio.us Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks Print By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer Pauline Jelinek, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 5 mins ago Featured Topics: Barack Obama Presidential Transition Play Video Reuters – An Iraqi-like answer in Afghanistan? The Pentagon has issued a directive putting the fight … WASHINGTON – Struggling to find enough doctors, nurses and linguists for the war effort, the Pentagon will temporarily recruit foreigners who have been living in the United States on student and work visas, or with refugee or political asylum status.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has authorized the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps to recruit certain legal residents whose critical medical and language skills are "vital to the national interest," officials said, using for the first time a law passed three years ago.
Though the military previously has taken recruits with green cards seeking permanent residency, Gates' action enables the services to start a one-year pilot program to find up to 1,000 foreigners who have lived in the states legally for at least two years on certain types of temporary visas.
The new recruits into the armed forces would get accelerated treatment in the process toward becoming U.S. citizens in return for serving in the wartime military in the United States or abroad.
"The services are doing a tremendous job of recruiting quality personnel to meet our various missions," sometimes with bonus pay and tuition for medical school, said Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy. But they haven't been able to fill their need for 24,000 doctors, dentists and nurses in the Defense Department.
The Pentagon's doctor and nurse corps remain 1,000 short of the numbers needed to treat patients, and Carr said he hoped the program would fill the gaps.
The military's most pressing need is for neurosurgeons and dermatologists to treat troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with brain and burn injuries caused by insurgents' wide use of roadside bombs and suicide bombs.
The force also lacks nurses with a broad range of specialties, Carr said.
It also needs people with special language and cultural skills for a war on terrorism that has taken the armed forces across the globe.
Though the military has been looking for more Arabic speakers and others to help with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the new program looks to recruit speakers of some three dozen languages, including Albanian, Korean, Punjabi, Somali and Turkish.
The effort to find the recruits begins early next year. If there is a need for more recruits in the future, it would take a new authorization, Carr said.
Of the 1,000 new people, at least a third must be medical professionals, Carr said.
"It is exceptional, limited, vital," he said of the effort.
The linguists are to be used in a broad range of military jobs — as infantrymen, seamen and military police. Those with the best language skills would be used in intelligence fields.
The armed forces have used foreigners since the War of 1812 — over the years some 700,000 have served.
But because of the counterterrorism war begun after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America, President George W. Bush signed an executive order in 2002 making foreigners who join the military eligible to apply immediately for citizenship.
They essentially go to the head of the line among citizenship applicants, having their cases processed in about three years as opposed to the five years it takes others, Carr said.
There are now 29,000 non-citizens in uniform today, Carr said, with about 8,000 more enlisting every year.
He expects that among those who will be interested in the new effort are doctors with work visas who are working at hospitals around the country, a program aimed at tackling shortages among U.S. medical professionals.
The military has never recruited non-green card holders, but a law passed three years ago lets them do so when it is determined to be vital to the national interest.
On Nov. 25, Gates declared that to be the case for the purpose of getting more doctors, nurses and linguists.
Carr stressed that recruits will have to pass the same physical, mental and aptitude tests required of all who join the armed forces.
Health care workers also will have to meet all medical professional criteria to practice, be proficient in English, and agree to enlist either for three years on active duty or six years as reservists.
The linguists/culture experts will have to enlist for four years of active duty service.
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On the Net:
Defense Department http://www.defenselink.mil
(This version CORRECTS in 5th graf that the Pentagon needs 24,000 medical professionals, sted that it currently has 24,000.) Minor editing and tightening throughout. ADDS Web link. Moving on general news and financial services.)
Well, in some cases. But I’m Canadian and I, for one, would gladly volunteer for the U.S. military if I was allowed to do so.
Indeed, I’ve long argued that there would be a deliberate program of “loyal immigration” - letting people in whose reason for wanting to immigrate is a specific attachment to the United States.
Years ago, I knew a Mexican-American guy whose father was a retired US Army sergeant. The father and mother never became American citizens (the son was born in the US) and when they retired went back to Mexico where they had a nice retirement on the father’s pension.
Its call Global Governance
I want to be Global Governor.
The military has done this for decades, and I think it’s a good program. These recruits are paying their dues by their service, and for the most part really earn their citizenship.
I met a few foreigner soldiers during my 3 years in the army, and they were good soldiers.
Right On! Right On! Right On!!! The future is soooo easily understandable. This nation has collapsed & the sheeple do not realize it. Drip Drip Drip.
“Come to the US! Spend 3 years in the service, earn your citizenship, then go into private practice and earn those big American bucks!”
Yes, that is different. But I still have no objection IF they pass a background check. I have no objection to immigration from anywhere, as long as they bring something positive TO this Country instead of just milking it for benefits.
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