thedrifter
01-06-07, 11:52 AM
Immigrants eyed for military duty
Saturday, January 6, 2007
By SAMANTHA HENRY
HERALD NEWS
When President Bush addresses the nation about the Iraq war next week, he is widely expected to announce an increase in troop levels.
With military forces already stretched thin and many active duty personnel serving repeated tours of duty, the Pentagon is reportedly considering proposals that would expand recruitment efforts among immigrants.
Supporters of increased recruitment among immigrants point to the fact that their presence can enhance the armed forces with linguistic and cultural diversity. They are also more likely than their American-born counterparts to fulfill their enlistment obligations, according to a 2005 report by the Center for Naval Analyses, a federally funded research group. The same report said of immigrants: "This population could help alleviate recruiting gaps and meet current and future personnel needs."
But opponents of making it easier for immigrants to serve in the military see it as sending a negative message about Americans' willingness to serve; and some question the allegiance of recruits from widely disparate backgrounds.
Sandy Shevack, a member of The Inclusive Democracy Project, a Paterson-based group that opposes military recruitment in schools, likened the idea to using mercenary armies to fight America's battles.
"The American people are not signing on to Bush's failed Iraq policy," he said. "An immigrant army is similar to the other mercenary armies, and French Foreign Legions of fallen empires."
Passaic resident Mateusz "Matt" Erszkowicz, of Passaic, a Polish immigrant who was wounded in Iraq serving with the Marines, said he was more concerned that the military not relax its quality standards, such as requiring a high school diploma and fluent English, than he was about someone's immigration status.
"From the military standpoint, if we need people to serve and we can't fill the ranks with regular people, as long as we keep the quality of men that are allowed to serve, I don't see the problem," he said. "If someone has good qualities about them, it doesn't matter what country they come from, or what their religion or the color of their skin is."
A Dec. 26 article in the Boston Globe cited unnamed Pentagon sources as saying there were a number of proposals under consideration for increasing the number of immigrants in the military, including enticing foreign-born recruits with more fast-tracked citizenship options, and opening recruiting stations overseas.
The Pentagon issued a statement refuting the Globe's claim that overseas recruitment stations were being considered. But as far as increasing recruitment efforts among immigrants already living in the United States, changes made by Congress in January 2006 to military enlistment statutes have already increased the pool of potentially eligible immigrant recruits.
One of those changes allows waiving the requirement that an immigrant seeking to enlist in the military must be a U.S. citizen or a legal permanent resident, in cases where their enlistment is deemed "vital to the national interest."
A spokesman for The Pentagon, Stewart Upton, acknowledged via e-mail the changes that had been made to enlistment rules but said the Pentagon had yet to use them.
"Recruitment of the all-volunteer force continues to be DOD's (The U.S. Department of Defense) clear focus and longstanding mission," Upton said. "Therefore, enlistment of any other persons -- including undocumented aliens -- is not judged 'vital to the national interest,' nor are there presently any plans to pursue such enlistments."
Legal permanent residents of the United States have been eligible, and have served in the military, since the Revolutionary War. President Bush made it easier in 2002 for immigrants serving to get a fast track to citizenship, and supported the changes last year that widened the pool of potential immigrant recruits.
Today, nearly 5 percent of the 1.4 million military personnel on active duty are foreign-born, according to Department of Defense figures. Among their ranks are several Passaic County residents who have served in the armed forces in different military conflicts; many of whom gave their lives for their adopted homeland.
Erszkowicz, who said he enlisted in the Marines the year after he became a U.S. citizen in 2000, said immigrants sometimes have a deeper incentive for signing up than even the native born.
"I didn't have as an incentive to get my papers, it was something I believed I had to earn," he said. "I felt like I could kill one bird with two stones; by serving, it would benefit me for life with the lifestyle and the discipline, but I would also be able to give back to this country for everything that I have here."
Reach Samantha Henry at 973-569-7172 or henrys@northjersey.com.
Ellie
Saturday, January 6, 2007
By SAMANTHA HENRY
HERALD NEWS
When President Bush addresses the nation about the Iraq war next week, he is widely expected to announce an increase in troop levels.
With military forces already stretched thin and many active duty personnel serving repeated tours of duty, the Pentagon is reportedly considering proposals that would expand recruitment efforts among immigrants.
Supporters of increased recruitment among immigrants point to the fact that their presence can enhance the armed forces with linguistic and cultural diversity. They are also more likely than their American-born counterparts to fulfill their enlistment obligations, according to a 2005 report by the Center for Naval Analyses, a federally funded research group. The same report said of immigrants: "This population could help alleviate recruiting gaps and meet current and future personnel needs."
But opponents of making it easier for immigrants to serve in the military see it as sending a negative message about Americans' willingness to serve; and some question the allegiance of recruits from widely disparate backgrounds.
Sandy Shevack, a member of The Inclusive Democracy Project, a Paterson-based group that opposes military recruitment in schools, likened the idea to using mercenary armies to fight America's battles.
"The American people are not signing on to Bush's failed Iraq policy," he said. "An immigrant army is similar to the other mercenary armies, and French Foreign Legions of fallen empires."
Passaic resident Mateusz "Matt" Erszkowicz, of Passaic, a Polish immigrant who was wounded in Iraq serving with the Marines, said he was more concerned that the military not relax its quality standards, such as requiring a high school diploma and fluent English, than he was about someone's immigration status.
"From the military standpoint, if we need people to serve and we can't fill the ranks with regular people, as long as we keep the quality of men that are allowed to serve, I don't see the problem," he said. "If someone has good qualities about them, it doesn't matter what country they come from, or what their religion or the color of their skin is."
A Dec. 26 article in the Boston Globe cited unnamed Pentagon sources as saying there were a number of proposals under consideration for increasing the number of immigrants in the military, including enticing foreign-born recruits with more fast-tracked citizenship options, and opening recruiting stations overseas.
The Pentagon issued a statement refuting the Globe's claim that overseas recruitment stations were being considered. But as far as increasing recruitment efforts among immigrants already living in the United States, changes made by Congress in January 2006 to military enlistment statutes have already increased the pool of potentially eligible immigrant recruits.
One of those changes allows waiving the requirement that an immigrant seeking to enlist in the military must be a U.S. citizen or a legal permanent resident, in cases where their enlistment is deemed "vital to the national interest."
A spokesman for The Pentagon, Stewart Upton, acknowledged via e-mail the changes that had been made to enlistment rules but said the Pentagon had yet to use them.
"Recruitment of the all-volunteer force continues to be DOD's (The U.S. Department of Defense) clear focus and longstanding mission," Upton said. "Therefore, enlistment of any other persons -- including undocumented aliens -- is not judged 'vital to the national interest,' nor are there presently any plans to pursue such enlistments."
Legal permanent residents of the United States have been eligible, and have served in the military, since the Revolutionary War. President Bush made it easier in 2002 for immigrants serving to get a fast track to citizenship, and supported the changes last year that widened the pool of potential immigrant recruits.
Today, nearly 5 percent of the 1.4 million military personnel on active duty are foreign-born, according to Department of Defense figures. Among their ranks are several Passaic County residents who have served in the armed forces in different military conflicts; many of whom gave their lives for their adopted homeland.
Erszkowicz, who said he enlisted in the Marines the year after he became a U.S. citizen in 2000, said immigrants sometimes have a deeper incentive for signing up than even the native born.
"I didn't have as an incentive to get my papers, it was something I believed I had to earn," he said. "I felt like I could kill one bird with two stones; by serving, it would benefit me for life with the lifestyle and the discipline, but I would also be able to give back to this country for everything that I have here."
Reach Samantha Henry at 973-569-7172 or henrys@northjersey.com.
Ellie