The government has promised many immigrants that their applications for citizenship would be put on the “fast-track” if they served in the Armed Forces. Promises such as this are nothing new. In the era when Rome was the greatest power on Earth, citizenship could be obtained by serving in The Roman Army. It sounds like a good deal for all, service to your country in reward for citizenship. While it may sound like a winning formula, it had consequences that were not at all good.

What happened to Rome has happened to many other civilizations since the Roman Empire. In the end, Rome had many in its army that were not serving because of loyalty to the government, or love for the empire, but for monetary gain and power, The Roman Army eventually became a mercenary army. The days of fighting out of love for their nation and its ideals was gone and in its place came the legionnaires that were motivated by personal gain and rewards from the government.

The motivation behind a great army must in turn be just that…great. The greatest acts of heroism and the stubbornness to keep on fighting in the face of hopeless odds usually stem from the idea that one is fighting for certain ideals and beliefs. An army that depends on soldiers that have no vested interest in the cause they are fighting for will oftentimes put their self-interests above that of the army they are being paid to fight for. In actuality, that is what they signed up for in the first place, their own self-interests.

Rewarding a soldier with citizenship is something altogether different than paying a person to fight for your beliefs. The notion that one could become a part of something greater than self is a great motivator. In the Army, we call this a force-multiplier. The idea behind force-multipliers is that any type of support, be it tangible or intangible, that allows the individual soldier, platoon, company or brigade to achieve more than what can reasonably be expected of them, multiplies the effectiveness of that force. Citizenship is that intangible thing that allows someone to feel part of a greater whole.

In the New York Times today, there was an article titled “After the War, A New Battle to Become Citizens”. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/us/24vets.html?hp In the article, Senator Schumer (D-NY) remarked that it was the background check that usually held up the paperwork on the application. “These are men and women who are risking their lives for us,” Mr. Schumer said in a telephone interview. “They’ve met all the requirements for citizenship, they have certainly proved their commitment to our country, and yet they could lose their lives while waiting for a bureaucratic snafu to untangle.”

The NY Times article brought up several cases in which soldiers serving in Iraq had lost their lives on the battlefield before their requests for citizenship had been completed and approved, mainly because of the wait for the background investigation. In effect what they are saying is that the Army and the other branches of the armed forces could put these people on the battlefield, but they couldn’t really trust them. This man or woman, wearing the uniform of an America’s soldier, could be counted on to fight for America and watch out for their comrades in arms, but they can’t be counted on to vote. They can fight and die for this country overseas in a foreign land, but they can’t hold a U.S. passport. The worst possible event, dying on the battlefield, happens to many before they can prove that they are good enough to be one amongst equals.

This is only a small part of the egregious events that happen to our soldiers. They are also exposed to dangerous levels of ionized radiation from tons of depleted uranium used on the enemy. Soldiers come back from the Middle East lethargic, with rashes, severe headaches, Grave’s Disease, and cancer. They are labeled as suffering from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and given an appointment to see a psychologist. The VA doesn’t recognize radiation from the battlefield. The soldiers come home only to see their jobs taken by others. Some come home, but not in quite the way they left. Some of the scars of war are readily apparent, other scars are not visible at all. In many cases the scars you don’t see are the wounds that cut the deepest. These are scars on the souls of our soldiers. Scars that won’t heal, scars that may remain forever in the dark recesses of the subconscious, scars that may heal with time and support from those they love, and scars that for many, illuminate the future from flames of a living hell.

War is hell. Those that have never experienced war up close and personal will never know the horror of it. Some of the armchair warriors in our government view war as an extension of their favorite sport or as some kind of macabre board game, except the pieces in that game are living, breathing, human beings. To those that have never been bloodied by war; it is something that has a winner or a loser. Those that have experienced it know that all who participate on the battlefield lose something… things that cannot be put into words. There are few soldiers who can live through the hell of war and say that they are the same as they were before it. This is the nature of war, it can define a generation, and it can define a life.

When this government promises citizenship to those that willingly stand in harm’s way for the right to be a part of America, this government has a duty and an obligation to abide by that promise. Whatever the cost, whatever the difficulties involved, the promise that was made must be kept. This nation has already demonstrated that it can send its citizens to their deaths in the name of profit. When one looks back on this war, we must ask; Cui Bono? The answer is that the oil companies benefit, the military-industrial-corporate-complex benefits, those who require more power benefit. The people of Iraq and the people of America and of other nations involved don’t benefit, save those mercenaries working for the government. The very least that this administration could do after unleashing the horrors of war, is to give those that are fighting for something intangible such as citizenship, their due for services rendered. The first priority that this government has should be to those that have kept their promise.

That’s the way I see it.