The Citizenship Path Not Taken.

Apparently our president thinks it's ok to ask young people 18-24 to join the military in oder to secure a "fast-track" to citizenship...but not ok if that 18-24 year old is smart and wants to use college as a way to become a more "attractive" citizenship "contestant".

This insidious part of the "plan" is aimed at young people who were brought here as small children, and were raised in the US.. Many of these young people speak English as well as (or maybe better than) most "real" Americans. they may have played sports in high school ..they may have waited on you at local restaurants.. They may have babysat your kids.

Their only "crime" was in being a toddler or baby as their parents came here. Most have kept under the radar , adn just as they too become adults they apparently have two choices.. Stay underground and doom themselves to low paid, slavish jobs or join the military and become part of our "invisible draft"..

I have NO PROBLEM with anyone who WANTS to join the military, but to add an additional pressure to any group of people seems very draconian. I can just imagine the dinnertime conversations in these families. You know they have to be getting some pressure from eager families too. If they join up, it might grease the wheels for their next of kin too..

If we need soldiers THAT desperately, then we need a draft for EVERY able-bodied 18-24 year old..not just the young immigrants who were brought here when they were too young to decide..

Could they expect any better treatment IN the military than they get outside the military? Or would they still be seen as second-class people inside the military? It took decades for black people to be fully integrated into the military, and I don't see this as being much different...

The military is one of the best-integrated institutions we have--not perfect and not totally free of racism, but generally, they get a fair shake. It's one of the things the military has sought to do well.

Could they expect any better treatment IN the military than they get outside the military?

Probably. While any organization as large as the military has it's share of openly racist people, they typically don't get on well in the service. In my five years, I didn't meet more than a handful of people that expressed openly racist views. The ones that did were never "popular." There was an incident in my basic training where a private was discharge for making racist statements (among other things, he was an overall discipline problem).

I'm not saying there aren't a number of incidents, but part of basic training is geared towards trusting your "battle-buddy" no matter who they are, where they're from or what they look like. I can only speak for the things I saw though. A guy I went throubh basic and AIT training with was pretty much Mexican. He was born in the states (and thus a citizen already) but spent most of his life in Mexico. His accent was very thick and his English was so-so...but he was an excellent soldier, moved through the ranks quickly and had an excellent seven year career.