₦airaland Forum

Thousands of immigrants were so
eager to enlist in the American
military during the last two years,
despite the strong odds that they could
be sent to combat zones, that they
signed a petition on Facebook asking
the Pentagon to let them join.
Now they will have the chance. Late
last month, the Pentagon reopened a
program to recruit legal immigrants
with special language and medical
skills, which was active for a year in
2009 but was suspended in January
2010.
The program is small; it will enlist a
total of 1,500 recruits each year for
two years, mainly in the Army. But
military officials said the yearlong
pilot program brought an unusually
well-educated and skilled cohort of
immigrants into the armed services.
“Their qualifications were really
stellar,” said Naomi Verdugo, assistant
deputy for recruiting for the Army.
“And we have been very pleased about
how these folks have been
performing.”
The program is open to immigrants on
temporary visas, who otherwise would
not be eligible to enlist. Its powerful
lure is that it allows them to naturalize
as United States citizens quickly, in
most cases at the end of basic training,
which lasts about 10 weeks. Most
immigrants on temporary visas,
whether they are students or workers
with particular skills, must wait years
— for some nationalities, more than a
decade — to become citizens.
Eileen Lainez, a Pentagon
spokeswoman, said the program was
intended to fill “some of our most
critical readiness needs.” This time
around, the Army is looking for
dentists and surgeons, and for
psychology professionals to help with
the severe emotional strains soldiers
have undergone in the wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq.
Officials are also looking for native
speakers of 44 languages, including
Azerbaijani, Cambodian-Khmer, Hausa
and Igbo (both spoken in West Africa),
Persian Dari (spoken in Afghanistan),
Portuguese, and Tamil (spoken in
South Asia). Spanish is not on the list
of languages.
Recruiting officers were quietly
frustrated that Pentagon officials took
more than two years to restart the
program. The renewal became tangled
in a broad security review after the
shooting rampage in 2009 at Fort
Hood, Tex., according to accounts from
military officials. The background
checks for the immigrants were
scrutinized with added caution, even
though the man charged in the killings,
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan , is a native-
born American.
In renewing the program, military
officials added a new layer of security
screenings, Ms. Lainez said.
To make their case to the Pentagon,
recruiting officers compiled dossiers
on the first class of immigrants, of
whom 943 out of 1,000 were in the
Army. On average, immigrants who
enlisted in the Army language
program scored 17 points higher (on a
scale of 99) than other applicants on
an entrance test, said Capt. Carol
Stahl, who manages the program for
the Army. One-third of the first class
of recruits had master’s degrees or
higher.
One-third of the class went into the
Special Forces, a highly selective
assignment that can often lead to
combat missions, Captain Stahl said.
Attrition was one-quarter the rate of
other soldiers who entered at the same
time.
A soldier from Nepal who entered with
the first class, Sgt. Saral Shrestha, just
won the Army’s Soldier of the Year
award after a grueling four-day
competition involving fighting skills at
Fort Lee, Va.
“This was a boost of very high quality
people,” said Margaret Stock, an
immigration lawyer in Alaska who is a
retired lieutenant colonel in the Army
Reserve and helped devise the
program. Even before they enlist, she
said, the immigrants have been
screened because they have to pass
background and occupational checks
for their temporary visas.
To qualify, immigrants must have
been living in the United States legally
for at least two years. They must be
high school graduates and pass the
entrance test.
The program — known as Military
Accessions Vital to the National
Interest, or Mavni — is not open to
illegal immigrants, who are barred by
law from enlisting. In general,
immigrants who are not citizens must
have a permanent resident visa,
known as a green card, to enlist.
The first round filled up quickly, and
the Army turned away thousands of
people. Many of them signed the
Facebook petition and were hoping the
program would start again.
Health care professionals, who enlist
as officers, must serve either three
years of active duty or six years in the
Reserves. Immigrants who enlist based
on their language skills must serve for
a minimum of four years of active
duty. Participants who fail to serve
their term can lose their citizenship.
One of the first temporary immigrants
the Army accepted this year was Dr.
Amen Dhyllon, 33, a dentist practicing
in Philadelphia who was born in India
and came to the United States in 2006.
Dr. Dhyllon said he completed a
postdoctoral program at the University
of Pennsylvania in June combining two
dental specialties.
Dr. Dhyllon said he was eager to
become an American citizen.
“Even in the position where I am
today,” he said, “no one would
appreciate me as much as people
appreciate me here. This country does
not differentiate between color or
accent. Here, if you are good, people
will put you to the front.”
Dr. Dhyllon said he was not worried
about the risks of service. He said he
was attracted to the Army because of
the wide range of patients he would
see.
“I can be part of the culture,” he said.
“I can learn everything about this
country from the root.”

bola4dprec: south west is the yard stick of Nigeria Economy before the era of crude oil after all if you are making noise because of the oil kindly list the oil producing state which is Igbo majority, mind you Ondo is one of oil producing state which is situation @sw apart from oil Ondo is the largest location for bitumen extraction

my friend we are not here for diccck measuring contest with somebody that has no diccck at all. The very negligible ondo oil belongs to the SS (ijaw) but your Yoruba fraudulent elders used the federal power at the time to allocate it to ondo. There is oil all over SE. Three SE states are oil producing apart from other abundant resources in the region. question is what resource does yorobberland land have? Where do you people eat from and dont clown here and say cocoa, the entire cocoa revenue cannot complete a 50 kilometers road and I wonder why you speak for Niger delta when your name is bola, have you not read asari dokubo's threat to awolowo nation. shut your big mouth up.

tevinsolt: i never knew you were this dumb

so you have been stalking me huh, meanwhile I stand on what I said, so many fatal accidents and fatal robberys from ogun state almost everyday, the governor there has some explanations to do.

Paul John: Some people's way of thinking are just totally out of it.
The governor caused the accident?
May be Sullivan should as well be questioned for mysterious deaths(from food poisoning) that has become a common occurrence in Enugu in recent times.
MR. Think straight

Alh harem, how far

so much accidents and deayhs from ogun state recently. The governor must be blood loving maaan. God save us. RIP

inufele2: Igbos live in illusion if their so called success, I thought they said charity begins at home, how come Igbos have not turn se states to Dubai?
The earlier these leeches leave us the better! Yorubaland will be better without Igbos
Igbos PLEASE LEAVE NOW!!!!!

I believe, you have turned into an imbeciile. Tell me any yorobbercave that is better than igbo sfates fool. what resources does Yoruba have, why and how are they eating. ungrateful parasite

Tolexander: typical zoological garden specimen! The guy was very right with what he said, just because he made a reasonable point against ur assumed tribal hero(achebe) who is supposed to b thinkin on how he can make a peaceful rest after death instead throwin dust to the air. Can u jst tell me aw this tribal issue has transformed and developed u and ur tribe!

Big fool, here is something to read, I hope your block brain will not make sure you dont understand a thing. iddiot I see how you and your yorobberland is developed. Too much of ewedu is suicidal. forest Animal
www.nairaland.com/860610/yorubas-problem-nigeria-sanusi-lamido

Asiwaju9ja: Brother, I am a detribalised Nigerian. No wonder u did not quote my post. I said remove all political undertone. Achebe wen suppose dey unite us, dey sow seeds of discord. For Selfish reasons again(to sell book)

There has never been unity built on faulty foundations. The foundation of nigeria is faulty and unity cant be forced on it. Nigeria can never be united until justice is served. Achebe is playing his part and should be praised for that.

[quote author=omayyi ]and I believe that ibos are enjoying the fruit of their greed by the incessant killing of ibos by ibos via armed robbery, ritualism, cult killings and fake products...also the daily killing of ibos in Asia and other parts of the world caught with drugs. I'm particularly happy with the fact that a large number of ibos are on death row in various prisons around the world.[/quote]what a fool, so yorrobberland is peaceful, ogun state that was partly locked down due to criminal activities is not yorobberland, Yoruba drug dealers are not on death row, yorrobber people are not being extradicted daily for scams, yorrobberland does not have the highest number of prisoners in the UK. A yorobberman and woman does not hold word records for the first and second most singularly ingested cocaine worldwide. Thats something you should be happy about fool.

azimibraun: Who is d wicked fellow or fellows dt ill advised Achebe? Chai! Ur closest pal is ur worst enemy. Ppl wey knw legendary achebe don wicked am finish. All dis fame and one own goal of a write up nw bring am down.. God no let me score own goal sir.

you people in your desperation will never cease to bring up flimsy excuses to try to villify Achebe, this is a good move from Achebe, it has sealed his position as the ultimate cultural ambassador of ndiigbo, the whole world is now aware of genocide in Nigeria and everybody have now seen awolowo and gowon as war criminals eluding arrest. Achebe's fame has skyrocketed and this book us a best seller so sorry, bring another propaganda

[quote author=GARRI (x7)]I wonder Y these OKORO-People see no wrong in Ojukwu leading his people into a war he couldn't finish. War is not a game of Ludo. If you're nt ready for a war, don't start it. Ask Japan, Germany, Iraq, Afghanistan etc.

The blood of the dead Ibos will ßξ on the Head of Ojukwu ‎​Άnd his family...

Enough of this whining[/quote]and the stupiiiidity and idiocy continues, wars have rules, all is not fair in war like your agbero ancestor awolowo said, if not America would have wiped many nations away from the map, more recently, Isreal would have emptied lebanon and co. The war didnt just come about, it was inevitable at the time and had Biafra gone ahead to win the war without useless britain and co helping Nigeria, people like the blood suckers gowon and awolowo would have spent the rest of their lifetime in the Hague.

And to think this pathetic liar and blood sucker was in Niger state for 'Nigeria prays' What an irony, I guess Nigeria prays is his way of staying out of Jos his homeland whenever he is in Nigeria. thank God the ICJ is beginning to dawn on him, it wont be long until a file is opened for him and his cohorts there. Something tells me this man may finally apologize in his death bed. The truth is there for all to see and that is what Achebe stated in that memoir.

Noiseless2: GET A LIFE,ALHJ_BOKO HAREM/JOHN PAUL MY AZZ!

The guy has become a troll I swear.

[quote author=Ji_sun_pack]Explain what yo meant by level playing ground. Keep your delusions alive. What do you have other than empty chest beating?[/quote]in simple terms it means if an igbo guy and a Yoruba guy are sent to a forest to develop themselves afresh, the Yoruba man either dies of hunger or the igbo man employs him for some services in that forest. simple for your dull brain

Dede1: One of the most important aspects of 100M dash is good start off the block. Now, please I want you to correlate this 100M statement with “The world is moving fast and we need to be at the same pace.” The only reasonable comment I picked out of the balderdash from above post is “We can't continue like... “

well said, please try to break down these riddles for dumbasses like Alh harem, I bet he will read everything you just wrote without understanding a single thing.

@Alh Harem am glad you have come out fully as the tribalist you are, you guys keep catching L's. Just yesterday one of you, shymexx was busted as bittyend. Am waiting for you to 'break the goat down', if you do that by trolling the forum or using all nairalands emoticons for a single post.... oh well

Paul John: At times, I wonder what some old Nigerians are up to.
Are these people thinking at all?! for goodness sake. Now because he has said "Igbo's started tribal politics", is that going to change anything? the best that can happen is more tribal bashing and advancement in hatred towards each other.
The same way the old prof some recent weeks brought up a baseless assertion from the pit of hell.
If we continue like this I wonder what the generation unborn would look like. Already, our generation has been compromised by the barbaric mind set of our elders who should have been the ones to set a solid foundation that would help us attain a greater height in the world at large.

The world is moving fast and we need to be at the same pace. Alas, we're still at logger head on who did this?, why was it done like that?.
The annoying part of it is that; we younger ones seem to be worse that those who passed this to us, just from the comments on this thread.
We can't continue like...

The bolded renders your whole comment invalid Mr. Awoist. Next please

Good they are tracing to their roots but you guys should stop this bullocks, psquare doesnt and cant own a private jet, it was probably hired.

Noiseless2: The same Fani Kayode, the same fool who just said the other day how he wish he was born an Igboman,now he is doing everything to become once again the Yoruba champion, honestly is this man for real or a case of shameless attention seeking?

I don't really blame him, ever since he said that and also that awolowo wanted to be president, Yoruba elders have set fire all over his azz, he is doing damage control and has gone mad about it.

Amaechi is holding Rivers state to ransome. There is so much corruption in rivers syate, the house of assembly there are executive tools who are both toothless and mouthless. Why does a Governor in one of the poorest nations in the world need a private jet, where is he travelling to, what is he travelling for? Why is Amaechi still the chiarman of Governors/Corruption forum. Port Harcourt is a mess!

Another yorobbermam goes gaga. Ewedu na bastttard.

By the way my Yoruba compatroits on nairaland, which of you coward is femi kAYode. Femi is on Nairaland.

I cant even discuss the article because that will mean getting tricked into madness. Who doesnt know Awolowo invented tribalism in Nigeria.You accuse a people of tribalism and you bring very valid points from Zik and onyeama to support your warped claims.

HOW LONG WILL THE YORUBA MAN CONTINUE TO CONCIOUSLY LIVE ON LIES.....

SMH!

dayokanu: May Amadioha impregnate you and your cohorts with albino triplets.

Despite the attempt by the useless PointlessB and the electoral committee to force you on electorates you were still roundly rejected.

Did you not tell ppl you werent going to contest? But in your duplicitous, cowardly and inability to keep ones word you came back for election and was summarily defeated.

WHat your defeat means is that Igbos dont value anything in your leadership style, they dont see any good in you, Your last one year has been a complete waste, even the powers of INEC failed to do anything to help, despite the slander of Odumchi by your supporters he still won the popular votes.

Look at Odumchi and your own profile pictures and see which one propagates Igbo cultures

https://www.nairaland.com/onlytruth

https://www.nairaland.com/odumchi

Obviously Odumchi is a real son of Igbo land and proud of his culture while the self hating Onyeoshi called Onlytruth could only put a picture NOT depicting his culture and root. I am certain people like Odumchi would bear their native Ibo names with pride while useless Onlytruth would hide behind adopted foreign names like ROACHAS, SULLIVAN, PETER obi, MARTIN elechi and THEODORE orji just like your Igbo names hating governors


In your miserable existence on this forum have you ever opened a thread that enlightened both Igbos and non Igbos about your culture like Odumchi does on the regular?

Let us check the list of topics opened by you and Odumchi in the last 1yr and let anyone tell us who has given NdYIBOS a better name on this website

Below is an example of odumchi type topic https://www.nairaland.com/1029728/ndi-igbo-come-show-us below is an example of an Onlytruth type topic https://www.nairaland.com/1036481/islam-non-oil-exports-true-then

Looking at the two topics one can already see the mindset of the two and definitely Odumchi is way more cerebral than Onlylies can ever hope to be in this life and the next

^


I cant believe that this fool will ever make me laugh

But on the real though Ayodele is a stalker


Goodness me

comment hidden.

sconsults: I will believe that it is true or it is even lower. I scored 148 on the stanford binet scale but i think if you check the average iq of nigerians adding up the illiterate nigerians. It should be noted that nigeria satisfy all the criteria of a low iq country

A) Nigerians are extremely religious.
B) We believe in ludacrious supernatural beings like ghosts and witches
C) we are very corrupt and self centered
D) we are violent, wicked and support extrajudical killing without rule of law
E) we are against things like gay rights which doesnt harm anyone while tolerating daily abuse of children by adults.
F)We kill ourselves over religious issues that are just myths and legends of the white man while disbeliving in our own traditions

[size=18pt]A our iq is really very low and nigeria is bad for no other reason than that[/size]

This is very true check Nigerian music or nollywood for instance and tell me why a sane smart man will take that to heart. Check how politicians are worshiped, check how Nigerians are gullible and easily decieved. left For me the average Nigerian IQ is below 30. this people just put it mildly.

Obiagu1: A beg Mr. Moderator, release my hidden post. I can't find any rule I violated.
Maybe my analysis did not favour your people but I was on point and I abused no one.

This is not Nazi era.

Maybe the entire thread should be deleted for an Oyibo man to assign Nigeria an IQ mark.

its called inferiority conplex. The average Nigerian man is still a whiteman slave.

Dipwater: The truth:ur tupac was st8t up wack ,he was not a ganagster .

I said average cus I don't wanna be rude,


2pac ur god ,laugh wan kill me here .I like 2pac,he is cool anyways.but in term of lyrical content he is wack to the core .there is. no comparing ur 2pac to the likes of biggie ,nas ,rakim


Pls always listen to music not the beat

get of drugs. you dont know music or rap so stfu.

I think you are sttttupid. No offence.

Amaech is really holding rivers state to ransome. First a mind blowing ans scandalous retirement perks for himself, now this. ph is at a stand stil. some people truly deserve only a tenure for governance

chino24: The election is a fraud. How did the electoral commission confirm if she is really a woman? Or maybe they made some assumptions because some people come online with all sorts of lies. Was due process and confirmations ever made to determine who is who and also make sure that actually a man and a woman was being elected into an office. What a bunkum

chino in the building
matters arising.

orufe: To prevent favouritism and for checks and balances, non Igbos should be called upon to do so. The nairalanders listed are not partial and they can be called upon to assist the electoral team come nov 2013. They are:
Beaf, Nduchuks, Gbawe, Ekt Bear, Edoyad, Ibime, Physics, Jarus, Debosky and Sagamite.

shut up.

congrats odumchi, I reserve my comment for eze nwanyi for now.

Am awaiting okija's press release.