An American Dream

“We’re going to give people the opportunity to be part of the United States who are dying to be part of this country and they weren’t able to before now,” said Sergeant Campos, who was born in the Dominican Republic and became a United States citizen after he joined the Army.--From NY Times article.

The February 14, 2009 NY Times article, "US Military Will Offer Path to Citizenship," describes the push by the US government military to recruit temporary immigrants who've lived in the United States for a minimum of two years to fight in foreign wars in exchange for citizenship. The volunteer army cannot get enough citizens to volunteer as the willingness of citizens to fight the wars of their rulers has lessened.

This wasn't the case when the country was new. During the American revolution, a citizen militia fought the first battles of the new government using their own weapons. From their homes near the battlefield, they could see what was at stake as they fought for their liberty. As the war with Britain continued, regular soldiers dedicated to a cause they believed in, fought with Washington.

In later wars, with no apparent threat to citizens, such as the Mexican-American war of 1846-1848 and the War Between the States, the US military started to rely on foreigners and the disenfranchised to do the fighting. Of the estimated 2.2 million men who fought for the Union army, 150,000 Irish immigrants fought. They volunteered to gain acceptance in a society where citizens treated them as poorly as slaves. German-born immigrants contributed 216,000 Union troops, and from the bottom of the societal ladder, 179,000 blacks fought in the Union army.

By 1863 during the war that many believe the federal government fought to end slavery for blacks, the same federal government instituted slavery for all men: the first American draft. The immediate result: the New York draft riots killed hundreds. The Irish were the main participants, this time killing blacks and fighting Union soldiers in New York City. US conscription ended in 1973, and today the military can't get enough citizens to volunteer to fight in foreign wars.

Military service as a path to citizenship isn't a new phenomenon. Ancient Rome had a similar experience. Roman citizens fought the early wars of the Roman republic. Like the American militia of the late eighteenth century, Roman citizen-soldiers owned their weapons. As the military goals of ancient Rome intertwined with the internecine political ambitions of its leaders, there weren't enough citizens to fill the ranks. Roman leaders recruited foreign troops. During the late Republic period of Rome, Spanish and Gallic soldiers serving as auxiliaries often received citizenship upon discharge.

In need of soldiers, Rome lowered its recruitment standards, and military leaders paid their troops and hired mercenaries. As a consequence, Roman legions, more loyal to their military leaders than to Rome and Romans, provoked fear of a military despot in the Roman Republic. That fear proved prescient when Julius Caesar broke the taboo against crossing the Rubicon river with troops in 49 BC and five years later made himself tyrant for life. Octavian, ruling at the end of the Roman civil war, changed the use of the Praetorian guard from protecting military leaders in battle to protecting political leaders from dissent.

Rome needed a large army because the Roman empire solved its material resource problems by force. Today the US government follows a similar model and its military has similar problems getting recruits. Recruitment standards are lower: gang members are increasingly also members of the armed forces. The consequences of lower military recruitment standards might not be apparent to US citizens while the military destroys people and property beyond the Rubicon in faraway lands. It will be when they're stateside "helping people at home" or making sure we stay inside our "free speech zone" cages during political conventions.

Lt. General Benjamin Freakley, who heads US Army recruitment said:

“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.”

Did Freakley speak more truthfully than he realized?

In war, human life truly is capital to be spent by generals, lending irony to Staff sergeant Campos' comment about "people dying to be part of this country."

Tragically, the hope to participate in the American dream for some still requires belief in the American fantasy that preemptively invading other nations and killing civilians somehow serves freedom.