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usmc4669
03-31-04, 08:34 AM
In his last letter home from Iraq, Sgt. Uday Singh exultantly told his aunt he was about to become an American citizen.

"He told me they would probably ship him back in January to get his citizenship... . He was really excited," said his aunt, Harpreet Datt of Lake Forest, Ill.

Shortly after he sent the letter, Singh, 21, was killed when his armored patrol was ambushed about 65 miles west of Baghdad.

A native of India, he was one of hundreds of "green-card soldiers" in Iraq, noncitizens fighting for the United States and for a chance to become Americans. At least 15 noncitizen soldiers have been killed in Iraq.

Jose A. Garibay, a native of Jalisco, Mexico, was one of the first to die. A Marine corporal, he was killed in an ambush near Nasiriyah on March 23, 2003, less than a week into the war.

Rasheed Sahib came to the United States from Guyana, and his family said he joined the Army as a stepping-stone to college and a career, perhaps in the FBI. He died May 18, struck by a bullet from a rifle being cleaned by another American soldier.

Solomon C. Bangayan, born in the Philippines and known to his friends as Kelly, died Jan. 2, in a firefight in Baghdad.

There are nearly 34,000 noncitizens on active duty in the U.S. military, making up about 2.4 percent of the country's armed forces. In 2002, the most recent year for which statistics were available, more than 4 percent of new recruits were noncitizens.

Most are Hispanic, although about 180 countries are represented in the military ranks, according to the Defense Department. Legal residents of the United States, the green-card soldiers join up for a variety of reasons: patriotism, money, adventure - and a chance to earn citizenship quickly.

Military service has long offered a shortcut to American citizenship, and President Bush increased the advantage with a 2002 executive order temporarily dropping a three-year waiting period for citizenship for military members. (Civilians must wait at least five years to become citizens.)

Similar presidential orders gave hurry-up citizenship to soldiers in World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam.

Congress in November reduced the peacetime waiting period for military members from three years to one and increased benefits for survivors of noncitizen soldiers who die in wartime.

The issue of green-card soldiers drew renewed attention this month when Army Sgt. Camilo Mejia, a native of Nicaragua, came out of hiding after abandoning his unit while home on leave in October.

Classified as a deserter, Mejia surrendered to military authorities in Massachusetts and asked for conscientious-objector status, citing his opposition to the war in Iraq, where he served for five months last year.

The role of noncitizens in the military is not without controversy. Some immigrants' advocates argue that noncitizens don't get enough opportunities in the military - they cannot become officers or serve in high-security jobs. Some opponents contend terrorist organizations could use relaxed citizenship rules to infiltrate the U.S. military. And some argue that noncitizens should not be permitted in the military at all.

"A person should earn the right to serve the nation, rather than the other way around," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates reduced immigration. Krikorian contends that the lure of quick citizenship, coupled with low military pay, could eventually make "soldiering work Americans won't do."

But generally, military service is seen as a way for immigrants to prove their loyalty - and their worth - to their new nation.

"These men and women love our country," President Bush said when he ordered a temporary end to the waiting period. "They show it in their daily devotion to duty."

Since that order in 2002, more than 13,500 noncitizen soldiers have applied for citizenship, and more than 8,000 have received it.

Uday Singh was one of those applicants.

He grew up in Chandigarh, India, the son and grandson of military officers. He moved to the United States to live with his aunt and uncle in Lake Forest, north of Chicago, and enlisted in the Army in 2000. He reenlisted in 2002, prompted in part by the opportunity to speed his chance for citizenship, his aunt said.

"He said, 'That way, I will already have my citizenship and it will be that much easier to get a college loan,' " she said.

And with citizenship, the young tank driver would have a chance to become an officer. Noncitizens are not allowed to be officers or to serve in certain units such as the Navy SEALs.

"One of his commanders had told him about a program for enlisted men to go to West Point, and he was very interested in that," his aunt said.

His citizenship application was approved late last year, and all that stood between him and his goal was fingerprinting and the swearing-in ceremony. And the hazards of war.

On Dec. 1, he was in a routine three-vehicle patrol that came under fire near Habbaniyah, about 65 miles west of Baghdad. He died on the way to the hospital.

In death, Singh received what he had sought in life. He was granted posthumous citizenship, and on Jan. 8, after being cremated in India, his ashes were interred in Arlington National Cemetery.