I have thought about writing a diary on this topic for awhile, but until now have been unsure about the angle to take on it. I know I can depend on all of you to be candid with your comments and advice. I have served with an immigrant soldier from the nation of Liberia for about three years. For the past two years he has applied for citizenship and has been consistently been jerked around in the process being told different things at different time. I am not going to divulge all of the details of this soldier's story, but I am going to ask a very basic question in the poll.
On this last Friday, I woke up at two in the morning and rode with the above mentioned soldier I will call "Jeff" to the Frankfurt Consulate. This was the latest adventure in his three year drive to become a citizen. He has served honorably in the Army for the last eight years. He was headed to Frankfurt to renew his green card, which had expired while he was in Iraq this last year. "Jeff" and his family have been in the United States since 1979. They filed for asylum in 1980 when Samuel Doe took power in an overthrow of the government. He has essentially been a resident since he was 9 years old. When we arrived at the consulate he was ushered inside and given some cool looking "official" handouts and told to schedule an appointment on the website. (I would add that the consulate was not particularly swamped that day, but I am sure they had lots of important work to do.) "Jeff" explained his predicament on the way back to home station. He can while on active duty return to the US on an ID card and a DA 31, however he has no passport from his own home country and very well could find himself as a man without a country upon his pending discharge from the military if he does not obtain citizenship. His citizenship was approved and he was scheduled for a swearing in cermony at Camp Victory Iraq on the 4th of July, 2006. The administering official wasWalter Haith. I might add that his citizenship was approved until it was denied. Oh that makes lots of sense doesn't it. (I might ask if some of yall can test that link and check out that website if you find it worthy.)
The story "Jeff" told me in Kuwait was that the company Top opened up a line of inquiry into his "swearing in" ceremony and the legitmacy of his invitation to the event. He produced a stack of emails that seemed to substatiate this claim. I might add that "Jeff" has not lived the "choir" life his whole life. I suspect that few 37 year old men do not have a few skeletons in their closet. He was eligible to come into the army with a waiver from a distant drug crime he committed when he was 19 years old. His life has been free from such aberrant behavior for close to two decades now. The question I have for Kossacks is this: How should someone's military service reflect in terms of "restoring" someone's record? A good majority of people are lured into the military by something called "the mystique of pre-induction" whereas the claim of improving whatever aspect of an individuals life they might be unhappy with will be improved with military service. This also applies to those with a criminal record and indeed the number of moral waivers to recruits has increased. So If an individual has done his time for his crime and paid his debt to society, and they have gone out of their way to further serve their country in a time of war, should they be allowed to become a citizen?
I will be very much interested in any of your comments regarding possible courses of actions in this case. I am also interested in finding out if perhaps that I am off the mark with this case. Perhaps, Someone with a 18 year old drug conviction who has been rehabilitated should never be allowed to become a citizen regardless of however many tours he served in Iraq. There are a number of other questions that arise out of the conduct of various individuals in this case, but primarily I am curious as to why Walter Haith was promoted? or reassigned? to Guam.
On a side note, "Jeff" has also spent time in the hospital with Leishmaniasis. He has served two tours in Iraq and was looking to go back to Iraq for a third time.
I welcome your comments, suggestions and advice.