Immigrant "soldiers" are now entering the United States Military in greater numbers than ever before.  The once tight rules on enlistment are being set aside as an expedient way to fill some chronic specialty shortages and other traditionally hard-to-fill positions.  

Until this year, only noncitizens with permanent residency and a Green Card were eligible to enlist in the military, and plenty do.  That barrier was recently removed by the Army to allow linguists and medical personnel to enlist in the military ranks.

The initial quota, reported by The Los Angeles Times was launched in February, 2009 to bring in about 1,000 noncitizens—primarily for the Army.

According to reports, over 7,000 noncitizens applied for the openings when eligibility was opened to aliens in the United States on temporary visas or those granted political asylum.  Not all applicants will be enlisted; about one-third will become officers in the health professions, including doctors, dentists, and nurses.

The incentive for these recruits is active duty benefits, special pays and an expedited path to citizenship.  Texas is even considering providing these noncitizen Soldiers free entry, tuition and books in Texas state universities and colleges—equal to that offered to current U. S. citizen Soldiers who are residents of that state.   

Service in the United States military should be a privilege of citizenship, not a right to be given to anyone who will readily agree to swear an oath for a cheap ride to permanent residence in the United States.

The logic behind accepting immigrant Soldiers is dated, if it ever was sound.  There are more available U. S. citizen volunteers for military service today than there have been in years -- and that trend is sure to continue into the foreseeable future.

History substantiates that since the time of Di Vinci and his "Condottiero," or Mercenary Captain, circa 1480, through the Napoleonic Era, to today’s Soldiers of Fortune, that "Hired Guns" have never been a reliable or dedicated substitute for citizens defending their own National Sovereignty.

A weakened military led to the fall of the Roman Empire.  Troop strength was lowered, training was reduced (due to cost), armor and weapons became substandard, and Roman citizenship was offered to any non-citizen who joined the Roman Army.  These actions, in turn, caused a significant reduction in the number of Roman citizens who volunteered for the Army because they felt it cheapened their service. 

We must think carefully about the consequences before we allow noncitizens and other immigrants to join the United States military.  Let's keep America's military American.