US Military seeks foreigners for medical, linguist jobs

[Blackadder1916]

Military seeks foreigners for medical, linguist jobs

Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor December 5, 2008 04:52 PM
By Bryan Bender, Boston Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon announced late this afternoon that it will seek to recruit up to 1,000 foreigners living in the United States on work or student visas in an unprecedented effort to fill critical shortfalls in the military ranks, including medical personnel and foreign language specialists.

The year-long experiment, approved by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, was determined "vital to the national interest" at a time when the military is need of additional doctors and nurses to treat wounded troops and is operating in a variety of countries where it has little cultural understanding.

The US military has long accepted noncitizens who are permanent residents of the United States and hold green cards. The new effort, which has been under consideration for several years, allows the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force to tap into the thousands of foreigners studying in the United States or working here temporarily as legal aliens.

"The bottom line is that the Department of Defense has a critical need for qualified health care professionals and people with language and associated culture capabilities," said Eileen Lainez, a Pentagon spokeswoman. "Legal aliens have enriched our forces by supporting our nation in previous wars, and their unique backgrounds are especially valuable in today's global war on terror."

There are about 29,000 non-citizens serving in the military now. Some national security leaders have been cautious to open up the ranks to more foreigners in recent years fearing what Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, calls a "nativist backlash."

But Boot, who has long advocated recruiting more qualified noncitizens into the military in return for expedited citizenship said yesterday's announcement is "a good start."

"It is a recognition of there are a lot of people who want to serve who could make a significant contribution," Boot said. "We need soldiers who can interact and understand local populations without a translator. I wish the program were larger, but I am glad they are at least opening the door a crack and hope it will open more in the future."

Gates, who President-elect Barack Obama announced this week will stay on as defense secretary indefinitely, is using for the first time a law passed three years ago that outside groups have criticized, saying the Pentagon would essentially be using mercenaries to defend the country, could jeopardize national security, or at the very least reflect badly on Americans' willingness to serve in uniform.

The move, first reported by the Associated Press, also comes at a time when service members are re-enlisting in droves because of the bleak job market and when the military is finally meeting its overall recruiting goals after years of struggling to do so during two wars.

 

[CougarKing]

Military seeks foreigners for medical, linguist jobs

Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor December 5, 2008 04:52 PM
By Bryan Bender, Boston Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon announced late this afternoon that it will seek to recruit up to 1,000 foreigners living in the United States on work or student visas in an unprecedented effort to fill critical shortfalls in the military ranks, including medical personnel and foreign language specialists.

The year-long experiment, approved by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, was determined "vital to the national interest" at a time when the military is need of additional doctors and nurses to treat wounded troops and is operating in a variety of countries where it has little cultural understanding.

The US military has long accepted noncitizens who are permanent residents of the United States and hold green cards. The new effort, which has been under consideration for several years, allows the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force to tap into the thousands of foreigners studying in the United States or working here temporarily as legal aliens.

"The bottom line is that the Department of Defense has a critical need for qualified health care professionals and people with language and associated culture capabilities," said Eileen Lainez, a Pentagon spokeswoman. "Legal aliens have enriched our forces by supporting our nation in previous wars, and their unique backgrounds are especially valuable in today's global war on terror."

There are about 29,000 non-citizens serving in the military now. Some national security leaders have been cautious to open up the ranks to more foreigners in recent years fearing what Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, calls a "nativist backlash."...

Does anyone know if these linguist jobs include Mandarin speakers?

ETA: Oh never mind...my student visa when I used to study in the States for my undergrad already expired.

 

[Blackadder1916]

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/MAVNI-Fact-Sheet.pdf
MILITARY ACCESSIONS VITAL TO NATIONAL INTEREST (MAVNI)
RECRUITMENT PILOT

The Secretary of Defense authorized the military services to recruit certain legal aliens whose skills
are considered to be vital to the national interest. Those holding critical skills – physicians, nurses,
and certain experts in language with associated cultural backgrounds – would be eligible. To
determine its value in enhancing military readiness, the limited pilot program will recruit up to 1,000
people, and will continue for a period of up to 12 months.

ELIGIBILITY

1. The applicant must be in one of the following categories at time of enlistment

a. asylee, refugee, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), or
b. nonimmigrant categories E, F, H, I, J, K, L, M, O, P, Q, R, S, T, TC, TD, TN, U, or V

2. The applicant must have been in valid status in one of those categories for at least two years
immediately prior to the enlistment date, but it does not have to be the same category as the
one held on the date of enlistment; and

3. An applicant who may be eligible on the basis of a nonimmigrant category at time of
enlistment (see 1b above) must not have had any single absence from the United States of
more than 90 days during the two year period immediately preceding the date of enlistment.

Health Care Professionals

• Applicants must fill medical specialties where the service has a shortfall
• Applicants must meet all qualification criteria required for their medical specialty, and the
criteria for foreign-trained DoD medical personnel recruited under other authorities
• Applicants must demonstrate proficiency in English
• Applicants must commit to at least 3 years of active duty, or six years in the Selected Reserve

Enlisted Individuals with Special Language and Culture Backgrounds

• Applicants must possess specific language and culture capabilities in a language critical to DoD
• Applicants must demonstrate a language proficiency
• Applicants must meet all existing enlistment eligibility criteria
• Applicants must enlist for at least 4 years of active duty
(Services may add additional requirements)

Languages
• Albanian
• Amharic
• Arabic
• Azerbaijani
• Bengali
• Burmese
• Cambodian-Khmer
• Chinese
• Czech
• Hausa
• Hindi
• Hungarian
• Igbo
• Indonesian
• Korean
• Kurdish
• Lao
• Malay
• Malayalam
• Moro
• Nepalese
• Persian [Dari & Farsi]
• Polish
• Punjabi
• Pushtu (aka Pashto)
• Russian
• Sindhi
• Sinhalese
• Somali
• Swahili
• Tamil
• Turkish
• Turkmen
• Urdu
• Yoruba

BACKGROUND

Non-citizens have served in the military since the Revolutionary War. The Lodge Act of 1950
permitted non-citizen Eastern Europeans to enlist between 1950 and 1959. Additionally, the United
States officially began recruiting Filipino nationals into the Navy in the late 1940s, when it signed the
Military Bases Agreement of 1947 allowing U.S. military bases in the Philippines. In total, over
35,000 Filipinos enlisted in the Navy through the program between 1952 and 1991.

Today, about 29,000 non-citizens serve in uniform, and about 8,000 legal permanent resident aliens
(green card holders) enlist each year. Law ensures that the sacrifice of non-citizens during a time of
national need is met with an opportunity for early citizenship, to recognize their contribution and
sacrifice.

In fact, today's service members are eligible for expedited citizenship under a July 2002 Executive
Order, and the military services have worked closely with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services (USCIS) to streamline citizenship processing for service members. Since Sept. 11, 2001,
nearly 43,000 members of the Armed Forces have attained their citizenship while serving this nation.

-END-

 

[Yrys]

US army 'wants more immigrants'

The US army wants people who can
communicate with locals

The United States army is to accept immigrants with temporary US visas,
for the first time since the Vietnam war, according to the New York Times.
Until now immigrants have had to have permanent residency - a "green card"
- in order to qualify for the services. But those with temporary visas will be
offered accelerated citizenship if they enrol, the Times says.

The Pentagon hopes the scheme will cover shortages in areas like medical
care and language interpretation.

Many temporary immigrants will have been granted visas on the basis of their
education or skills, so the defence department expects the new recruits to be
more qualified than applicants who are US citizens - and in particular to have
languages useful in combat zones like Afghanistan and Iraq.

"The American army finds itself in a lot of different countries where cultural
awareness is critical," said Lt-Gen Benjamin C Freakley, the top recruitment
officer for the army. "There will be some very talented folks in this group,"
he told the New York Times. "The army will gain in its strength in human
capital, and the immigrants will gain their citizenship and get on a ramp to
the American dream."

Opposition from veterans

The Times said the scheme could cut the time a temporary resident had to
wait for a green card from up to 10 years to as little as six months. The
programme will be limited to 1,000 enlistees in its first year, but if successful
could be spread to other services and expanded. It could eventually provide
the army with one in six of its recruits, the Times said.

Army recruiters say their job has become easier in recent months as
unemployment has risen in the US. But even so, they regret having had
to turn away many immigrants because they had only temporary residency.

However, the Times said there appeared to be some opposition from officers
and veterans, who expressed concern that some foreigners might have divided
loyalties or be terrorists seeking to infiltrate the US armed services.

New York Times article : U.S. Military Will Offer Path to Citizenship

 

[tomahawk6]

With immigrants come security problems. I would much rather draw people familiar with whatever region we are operating in and hire them as contractors.

 

[CougarKing]

Here is an update with an article and a post from a US military recruiting forum; this information will definitely help any interested, qualified Canadians living or studying in the US on a non-immigrant visa:

Originally posted by rlhyatt:
I mean no disrespect to any of the previous posters, but actually the MAVNI pilot program does start on Monday (02/23/09) to those that have submitted their interest and basic information through www.goarmy.com (To find the form, type in "MAVNI" in the search area).

Initially the recruitment will be limited to those in New York City, and then expanded to the rest of the country later this year. As it stated in the DOD announcement about the MAVNI program back in December, the "Non-immigrant" visa holder must have been present in the US for at least the past 2 years (with no departures out of the country of greater than 90 days).

The first step would be to register via the goarmy web page. Once the form is submitted, the webpage will provide you with telephone numbers that you may call to ask questions. They will then (Monday or after) call you for a telephone interview (My understanding is that this is some sort of a pre-screening). Be aware that if you get through the interview, that when you later take the ASVAB, you will need to score a minimum of 50 to remain eligible (No waivers). As far as I know, only the Army is starting their follow-up phone interviews next week. I did actually speak with the MAVNI test program recruiting representative at Fort Knox (Army Recruiting Command) who assured me that this program is more than just a "rumor" and that they are proceeding with it, but somewhat slowly.

FYI: Don't bother applying if you don't meet the basic requirements for the program....there are no waivers.

And here is yet another article with more details:

http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12384

New Accessions Pilot Program Authorized


            The Defense Department announced today that it has authorized the military services to implement a pilot program; temporarily permitting enlistment into military service certain legal aliens (who have lived in the United States for at least two years) who hold skills that are critically needed in the military.

            The pilot will address health care professionals holding needed medical specialties (physicians and nurses) and people with skills in certain strategic foreign languages and cultures, qualifications important to present and future military operations. A fact sheet detailing the languages and basic requirements is available.

            “The services are doing a tremendous job of recruiting quality personnel to meet our various missions,” said Bill Carr, deputy under secretary of defense for military personnel policy. “This pilot seeks to provide yet another opportunity to fill the gaps, with people who are highly qualified and eager to serve this nation.”

            The military services will review their requirements and determine the pilot’s efficacy within their service. If they choose to participate, they will provide implementation plans within 45 days. The pilot may recruit up to 1,000 people, and after one year, its value for enhancing military readiness will be evaluated.

            Non-citizens have served in the U.S. military since the Revolutionary War. Today about 29,000 non-citizens serve in uniform, and about 8,000 permanent resident aliens (green card holders) enlist each year. This initiative expands non-citizen eligibility for military service to include not only the green card holders, but also those visa holders legally present in the U.S., such as doctors, nurses, and students.

            Those volunteering to serve the nation by joining the military during a time of war would be eligible for accelerated citizenship – as are all others who serve in the military – by virtue of the July 3, 2002 executive order which allows expedited naturalization for those non-citizens who serve in our armed forces.

 

[tomahawk6]

With the economic downturn recruiters should not have trouble hitting their targets. I have supported a return to the policy we had during Vietnam in that if a volunteer could find a recruiting station he could join and in time receive citizenship. I remember in a unit I served in we had a former FFL NCO as a squad leader. What a resource that man was.