44 troops become U.S. citizens in Afghanistan

[Vulture6]

44 troops become U.S. citizens in Afghanistan

By Gina Cavallaro - Staff Writer
Posted : Tuesday May 27, 2008 8:10:57 EDT

At a Memorial Day ceremony in Afghanistan, 44 U.S. service members from 21 countries raised their right hands and took the oath of allegiance, becoming American citizens while on duty in the combat zone.

More than 40,000 uniformed men and women have been naturalized since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Close to 5,000 of those have become U.S. citizens overseas, including the war zones, since October 2004 when overseas ceremonies for military personnel were authorized, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.

The USCIS has also granted posthumous citizenship to 109 members of the U.S. military.

The naturalization ceremony took place Monday at Bagram Air Field just north of Kabul and the oath of citizenship was administered by Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, according to a press release from Combined Joint Task Force 101.

“On behalf of President Bush and a grateful nation, I say welcome,” Chertoff said in the release.

Also present were 101st Airborne Division Commander Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, who is commander of CJTF-101.

There are approximately 20,000 non-U.S. citizens serving in the U.S. military.

“There is no honor greater than presiding over an oath ceremony and there is no better place to do it than here,” Chertoff told the new U.S. citizens. “You have all earned your citizenship through your service. Starting today, America is as much your country as it is mine.”

In unison, the soldiers and Marines raised their right hands and swore to support and defend the constitution against foreign and domestic enemies, and to bear arms when required by law, said the release.

“This feels really great – closure to the ‘history’ chapter in my life and the beginning of my future,” Army Pvt. Mark Paguio, 23, said.

Paguio, a native of the Philippines, led the other service members in their recital of the pledge of allegiance.

“This day means everything to me,” Marine Lance Cpl. Artem Starovoyt, a native of the Ukraine native who made Philadelphia his home. “I have been out on the front lines doing what I can for my nation – and now I can officially call America home.”

The countries represented at the Afghanistan ceremony were Jamaica, Colombia, the Philippines, Peru, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Australia, Poland, Ghana, Iran, Mexico, El Salvador, Haiti, Sierra Leone, Trinidad and Tobago, Germany, Cuba, Nigeria, St. Vincent-Grenadines and the Ukraine.

[ClutterbusterNY]

They have certainly "earned" their citizenship. This is nice to read.

[AngelBear]

More than earned it... Congrats!!!

[Sir Charles]

Congrats!