The German serving in Iraq
CNN ran this interesting profile (some video also here) on one US non-citizen soldier. There are an estimated 20,000 of these service members in the US military, many of whom have gone to war in Afghanistan or Iraq. I always found this amazing when you even have a few US citizens who refuse to deploy even after they have voluntarily joined the military.
When you think of these "green card soldiers", you probably imagine people from poorer nations trying to become US citizens. But that's not always the case. This example was SPC Jeffrey Jamaleldine, a German citizen who fell in love with America, and served in Iraq, where he was seriously wounded by taking a bullet to the jaw (it looks like he is recovering very well).
He made a conscious decision to move to America, the land in which he believes "nothing is impossible". Don't get me wrong - I love Germany, I was born there, and my family lives there now. But there is a kind of sleepy attitude in the ever-cloudy country; it lacks the same vibrance that America has.
Jamaleldine's father who lives in Berlin, and was born in Africa (likely North Africa), strongly disagrees with his son's decision and instead would like to see him "devoting his energy to fighting hunger and poverty in Africa, not fighting in Iraq". Fighting poverty in Africa is certainly a noble goal, but it's interesting that he seems to believe that Iraqis can rebuild their country alone but Africans cannot. Moreover, since he fled Africa himself instead of staying and rebuilding it, he is hardly holding himself up as an example.
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4 comments:
Ever cloudy sleepy country?! Well Sleeping Beauty is a German folk tale - Dornröschen - and she slept for 100 years waiting for her prince to rescue her.. sleepy but pretty efficient in the long run.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,539564,00.html
Too bad getting a Green Card is not that easy. I'm a Finn and I tried to get one via that lottery thing but didn't have any luck. That was before I started studies at a university but I still keep myself open to the possibility of joining the US military, before or after graduating, assuming I can get my hands on a Green Card.
And if the Pentagon suddenly announces that they're going to start offering Green Cards for those interested in joining the military I just might take the offer.
To Mikko - I wish you the best of luck and keep trying! If I understand correctly, getting a lottery visa is far easier from a country like Finland than from most other countries in the world, because there in wealthier countries there are far fewer people applying and taking all the slots. There are other mechanisms for getting green cards though. Talk to a recruiter - they may know of a couple different ways of helping you out.
As a member of the EU, you might be eligible to join the armed forces of the UK or Denmark, but of course they send far fewer soldiers to Iraq or Afghanistan and the pay is not nearly as good, when you factor in bonuses and tax advantages.
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