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The Military: What's in it for Latinos/as?

[Today is 11/30/03.]

José Antonio Gutiérrez was the second soldier to die fighting for the U.S. in Operation Iraqi Freedom. José Angel Garibay's death followed shortly thereafter. Both men entered this country undocumented, and while neither was a United States citizen at the time of his death, they are citizens now. Both had enlisted in the U.S. Marines with hopes of fulfilling their dreams. José Antonio Gutiérrez, 22, an orphan and hard-knocks poet, had hopped trains at age 11 from Guatemala before crossing the border into California. His dream was to become an architect. The military had promised him an education and he had promised to bring his sister, Engracia, to the States. José Angel Garibay came from Mexico with his mother when he was an infant. They also settled in California where she found work as a housekeeper. 21 year-old José Angel Garibay wanted to be a career soldier.

Green card draft

In a controversial decree, President George Bush announced, in July, 2002, that non-naturalized soldiers serving honorably in the "war on terrorism" could significantly step up the process of citizenship and apply immediately or upon enlisting. Citizenship could be granted within 6 months, shortcutting the normal wait of nearly 5 years civilians must endure. Once naturalized, soldiers are permitted to apply to have family members naturalized, but there are no provisions for financial or other benefits to families of the dead. Also in the decree were the provisions that allowed for the posthumous citizenship granted Gutiérrez and Garibay.

The decree gave a boost to the "green card draft," a policy that is pushed, no matter the country's mood towards immigrants, when troops are needed for combat. While the decree was welcomed by many as a just reward for service and loyalty to an immigrant's adoptive homeland, there are also many detractors. Extreme but vocal are those who want to end immigration completely along with any amenities to immigrants. At the other pole are those who see a cynical rather than magnanimous hand at play. Says Carlos Montes of Latinos Against the War in Iraq, "If someone's a resident and they're in the army, I would support their becoming citizens, but it should not be used as a carrot. "

Why enlist?

These developments underlie the basic question: What does military service have to offer young Latinos and does it offer a viable and rewarding career path?

A visit to the Armed Forces official web site is suggestive. And alluring (see http://www.todaysmilitary.com/index.php ). There is a version of the site in Spanish (the only "foreign" language) and diversity is stressed. An array of personnel, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and of varying ethno-cultural stripes, is pictured on the pages. Education and a career path within the military are most stressed as the reasons to enlist.

People who serve can receive payment for up to 100 percent of their college tuition and payment of college loans previously incurred. Careers in over 140 job categories within the military are offered after active duty is completed, with salaries comparable to entry level positions in the corporate sector. In addition, Uncle Sam will pay housing and food benefits for most enlisted personnel and their families. There is no mention on the site of the likelihood of combat; the copy makes it a point to explain that 80 percent of all military personnel serve in noncombat roles.

Solomon amendment

Recently there has been a rush on recruiting spurred by the Solomon Amendment, passed, in 1996, during the Clinton administration. While providing additional support for on-campus recruiting, the Amendment also denied federal support for programs, such as Latino and African-American Studies, at institutions with no ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) facilities, a move seen by some as arm-twisting.

Hispanic Access Initiative

Latino recruiting was given additional impetus two years later by the Hispanic Access Initiative. The Hispanic Access Initiative provides for ROTC recruiters to especially target colleges and high schools with a sizable Latino student body. Recruiters may obtain access to high school students' addresses and phone numbers and are free to contact them at home unless parents object. Says Montes, who works out of Los Angeles, "The Marines are all over the East L.A. high schools where there is a high Latino enrollment. They have carte blanche in the schools, they make presentations, they take the kids out to dinner, show them videos and get their phone numbers and addresses."

The Pentagon's goal, as stated by John McLaurin, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Human Resources, is to boost Latino enlistment from 10 to 22 percent by the year 2025, when the overall Latino population is projected to rise to 25 percent.

Creative, aggressive recruiting

So vigilant has been the Latino thrust that, according to several stories, recruiters are plumbing Mexico's border towns for volunteers, documented or not. Reports L.A.-based reporter Andrew Gumbel in the London daily, the Independent, "Recruiters have even crossed the border into Mexico - to the fury of the Mexican authorities - to look for school-leavers who may have US residency papers." (Pentagon targets Latinos and Mexicans to man the front lines; 9th October, 2003)

Marcos Vinicius Gonzalez, U.S. correspondent for the Mexican daily, "La Jornada," who lives in San Diego, goes further. He reports regular trips across to recruit young Mexicans, mostly in the schools. Often they are rebuffed, he says, by school authorities. In one particular incident, he relates, after school authorities would not allow the recruiters access, school personnel were ordered not to discuss the situation with the press. (Mr. Gonzalez would only speculate that the order came from the Mexican government.) Gonzalez believes there is a virtual press black-out on these recruiting efforts.

With regard to the purported illegal recruiting of the undocumented, Montes reports, " I've had a student tell me straight out: a Marine recruiter called him and he told him, 'Look, I'm undocumented, I'm not a citizen, I'm not even a resident,' and the marine recruiter told him, 'Well I can put in a word for you, I can talk to the authorities for you.'" Montes doubts that, in this and most other instances he's heard of, the recruiter could have made good on his promise. "What I'm seeing," he continues, "is that the recruiters, in order to recruit more people, are making false promises of either residency or citizenship."

Montes pointed out, on the other hand, that it was discovered after José Antonio Gutiérrez' posthumous citizenship was conferred that he was undocumented. And he mentioned the recent case of Juan Escalante, recently returned from his tour of duty in Iraq to face possible dismissal from the Army and the deportation of his parents because Escalante is undocumented. Escalante's parents' lawyer is charging that the 2002 Bush decree protects the family because it mentions both "aliens and noncitizen nationals."

High profile Latinos

Latinos not persuaded to sign up on campus, in high school, or on the streets, may be encouraged to enlist inspired by high-ranking, high-profile Latinos. Three-star general, Ricardo S. Sanchez, is in charge of all coalition ground forces in Iraq. Sanchez grew up poor in a poor town in deep South Texas, son of a single mother who struggled to obtain an education for her six children and for herself. He began working at age 6 and joined the J[unior]ROTC in high school before winning an Army/Air Force scholarship to Texas A&I College. Sanchez is one of only nine Hispanic generals ever to serve in the U.S. Army.

Another high-profile Latino is Louis Caldera, Secretary of the Army under Bill Clinton. The son of poor Mexican immigrants, Caldera forged his way to both Harvard business and law schools. Caldera became a vigorous campaigner for Latino recruitment, bolstered by the Hispanic Access Initiative.

Combat bound

Latinos are the most likely group to see combat. A recent study conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center (www.pewhispanic.org) revealed that while nearly 10 percent of all enlisted personnel are Latinos, close to 18 percent find themselves on the front lines. They also occupy the lowest rungs of the military hierarchy. A generally lower educational level may partially explain these numbers, obviating significant advancement up the ranks which moves one out of harms way. Moreover, since a large number of Latinos are not citizens, they are also prevented from achieving positions requiring security clearance.

Like Gutiérrez and Garibay, Latinos seem to gravitate towards the Marines. 14 percent of the Marine Corps is Latino. These high numbers may be due to the aggressiveness of Marine recruiting, especially in the West. Marines have the highest casualty rates among all branches of the service.

With no data available from the Pentagon, and based only on empirical evidence and observation, it appears that a great number of the Iraqi war casualties are Latinos. Dr. Jorge Mariscal of the University of California at San Diego, guestimates, by the surnames reported and the CNN footage and web site bios of the fallen, that approximately 20 percent are Latino.

Rodolfo Arcuña, Profesor of Chicano studies at the California State University, Northridge, sees the targeting of Latinos and other third world youth as insidious. It's an aspect, he says, of "the Bush factor," or, "let the others do the dying for you." In a printed article, Arcuña pointed out that Latinos have traditionally been clay ducks on the military firing line. In Vietnam, he noted, "80,000 Latinos served, incurring about 19 percent of all casualties." The majority of these soldiers had been drafted—compulsory service was ended in 1973—from amongst the poor and working class, not privileged nor savvy enough to secure deferrals as university students, or fudged poor health or psychological deferrals, nor enter temporary exile in Canada or Europe, as had done many middle class youth.

Patriotism prompts

Serving in the armed forces can mean more than salary, career and educational opportunity. Just as the greatest wavers of American flags after 9/11 seemed to be immigrants, it is understandable that the most vulnerable amongst us would want to sign on to a society they could wear like a protective badge of patriotism. Most brown-skinned immigrants fear being confused for terrorist ilk by Joe (and Jane) America. Moreover, many feel new-found patriotism and gratitude that this country has given them more than they had before they came. But, this is a tough economy, especially for the hard-working (Latino) immigrant with few skills: trades are not easily come by, salaries, when justly paid, can be pitiful, benefits usually out of reach: an offer of a steady pay check with benefits, attached to the promise of travel and maybe escaping your grim surroundings, can be an offer that can't be refused, especially when pitched by a zealous achiever who may even speak your own language. The potential of combat, even death, may be repressed or naively seen as an adventure.

Some believe that a return to the lottery draft would be more equitable and begin to level the playing field along racial and economic lines. Congressman from Harlem, Charles Rangel, is amongst them. Rangel maintains that, if the sons and daughters of the powerful in this country were eligible to serve, even be put on the front lines, they would think twice about committing troops to fight wars.

Fallout

The bright eyes may become clouded by misfortune, and the buoyant tails deflated by disillusionment after a tour of duty, especially in the war and morale-ravaged lraqi arena. Says Montes, "Sure, they get them out of East L.A. or the barrio, but they put them into a system where they're trained to kill. Then they send them to desert training, jungle training, teaching them to kill, then they go in and get killed. A lot of Latinos are getting killed now."

If the soldier escapes the battlefield alive—of course, the great majority will--he or she, may still be a victim of great hardship. The Pentagon has revealed that an inordinate number, over 4,500, of troops have been evacuated out of Iraq for reasons other than injuries. What these reasons are, the military would not reveal. The first cause is usually illness. Over one hundred cases and two deaths from pneumonia have been acknowledged, an alarmingly high number. Pneumonia is known to be one of the side effects of the Anthrax vaccination all troops must take and of the fallout from Depleted Uranium. When it was announced that the Pentagon would be using the insidious spent radioactive compound in its bombs, there arose a great but unheeded outcry. The military also reports 17 suicides in Iraq and 24 other deaths the cause of which has not been released. An additional 504 soldiers have been evacuated for psychiatric reasons.

Many of the evacuees returned Stateside have been deprived of care. The Pentagon recently admitted to deplorable conditions at Fort Stewart where Gulf returnees are being held pending medical and other interventions. They are crammed into cement training barracks with no indoor latrines. CNN and other news feeds report waiting times of up to 45 days to get needed medical attention or under a necessary procedure, such as an MRI.

The soldiers have also had to grin and bear the unexpected upping of their deployment to the Persian Gulf as well as a cut of 25 percent in their combat pay.

Alternatives

Both Montes and Arcuña propose that the alternative to military service for young Latinos is not the streets, or, at best, the factories and restaurant kitchens, but an education. Montes notes that he has seen many returnees, who enlisted because of the promise of learning a trade or getting a good job, come home empty handed and empty-pocketed, with no training and no job, the three or fours of years active duty all come to naught. He also notes that "the research I've done is that 57percent of the people that join the armed forces never use the GI bill [providing for college tuition]. These youth, if they had the right preparation and training in [high] school, they could go straight to college."

Says Arcuña, "I'm totally against joining the military as a way out. I say go to college and get a good job." He notes that the Pentagon spends between $8,000 and $10,000 to recruit each Latino. Both activists support using that money for educational alternatives, to keep Latinos in school and to further their education as well.

Bottom line

Perhaps the bottom line is not who serves, where, and what's to be gained by military service. But a lesson taken from amongst the last words, written to a friend, of undocumented, Guatemalan, poet, Marine, Lance Corporal José Antonio Gutiérrez: