Post Story on Noncitizens in the Military

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/12/AR2005111201

The Washington Post (November 13) has an article by David Montgomery on noncitizens serving in the military. Accoring to the story,

In 2002, President Bush ordered that noncitizens in the military as of Sept. 11, 2001, be immediately eligible to apply for citizenship, rather thanhaving to wait the usual three years. Since then, nearly 25,000 have been naturalized, according to Citizenship and Immigration Services. Citizenship ceremonies take place even in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan. On Friday — Veterans Day — 110 sailors and Marines were naturalized aboard the USS Midway, the floating museum in San Diego Harbor.

Noncitizens enlist for some of the same reasons Americans do — patriotism, adventure, money for school, job training. For Brown, serving was a way to say thank you to his second homeland.

KJ