Marine Captive Reported Killed

[Belisarius]

ORIGINAL: Didz

Lol: This has gone into the realms of the bizarre now.

I must admit that I'm a bit confused as to how a man with from Lebanon managed to enlist in the US Marines, Presumably, he is a US citisen?

Citizenship is not required for service with the Marine Corps, IIRC.

That doesn't change that the Marine in question probably does have a US citizenship...?

[Belisarius]

Ooook, so he's at Rammstein AFB, Germany, now.

They're really getting the mileage out of this one.. [:D]

[Hertston]

ORIGINAL: Didz

I must admit that I'm a bit confused as to how a man with from Lebanon managed to enlist in the US Marines, Presumably, he is a US citisen?

One is tempted to say that if they took Hussein Aideed (son of Mohammed Farah Aideed) they would take anybody... [;)]

[Brigz]

ORIGINAL: Didz

Lol: This has gone into the realms of the bizarre now.

I must admit that I'm a bit confused as to how a man with from Lebanon managed to enlist in the US Marines, Presumably, he is a US citisen?

He is a US citizen but, as was said above, that is not a requirement for enlistment in the US armed forces. Didn't a lot of American pilots enlist in the British/Canadian air corps in WWII?

[UndercoverNotChickenSalad]

AWOL

[8|]

[Didz]

ORIGINAL: Dave Briggs
He is a US citizen but, as was said above, that is not a requirement for enlistment in the US armed forces. Didn't a lot of American pilots enlist in the British/Canadian air corps in WWII?

I'm not sure thats a valid comparison, Britain was at war and desperately short of pilots.

My understanding was that the USMC is the USA's elite Corps. I may be wrong but I don't recall and US volunteers being recruited into the Guards.

[Hertston]

Actually, the British armed forces aren't that fussy either. Entry is open not only to British citizens, but also to those from the Irish republic and ANY Commonwealth country.

[Brigz]

ORIGINAL: Didz

ORIGINAL: Dave Briggs
He is a US citizen but, as was said above, that is not a requirement for enlistment in the US armed forces. Didn't a lot of American pilots enlist in the British/Canadian air corps in WWII?

I'm not sure thats a valid comparison, Britain was at war and desperately short of pilots.

My understanding was that the USMC is the USA's elite Corps. I may be wrong but I don't recall and US volunteers being recruited into the Guards.

I wasn't really trying to make a comparison but was just pointing out that most armies will accept non-citizens. In the US, anyone who is qualified can join the armed forces. As far as I know there are no units or organizations that require citizenship. That would be unconstitutional and the US Constitution affords the same civil rights to non-citizens as citizens even though I wouldn't exactly classify joining the military as a right. It's historically seen as more of a privilege. Working for military security agencies might be a bit different, but even there I don't think there is any restriction based solely on nationality. Achieving rank might be a bit different, especially in the higher officer ranks, but even this has no citizenship restrictions as far as I know. Having said that, I would be surprised if a non-citizen ever achieved the the rank of Brigadier General or higher.

[Didz]

ORIGINAL: Dave Briggs
I wasn't really trying to make a comparison but was just pointing out that most armies will accept non-citizens. In the US, anyone who is qualified can join the armed forces. As far as I know there are no units or organizations that require citizenship. That would be unconstitutional and the US Constitution affords the same civil rights to non-citizens as citizens even though I wouldn't exactly classify joining the military as a right. It's historically seen as more of a privilege. Working for military security agencies might be a bit different, but even there I don't think there is any restriction based solely on nationality. Achieving rank might be a bit different, especially in the higher officer ranks, but even this has no citizenship restrictions as far as I know. Having said that, I would be surprised if a non-citizen ever achieved the the rank of Brigadier General or higher.

Hadn't really thought about it like that but I guess the US Army has a long history of recruiting foriegners into its ranks. During the ACW whole regiments were formed of German speaking immigrants almost straight off the ships from Europe and large numbers of Irish speaking regiments were forming in New York.

Likewise in Britain substantial numbers of Irishmen were recruited into our regiments during the AWI and Napoleonic wars. And of course we still have regiments like the Ghurka's.

[Jonathan Palfrey]

Ghurka's? Methinks you mean the Gurkhas (surely no apostrophe called for). Though there seems to be an argument that the name should be spelled Gorkha, like the town.

[Didz]

ORIGINAL: Jonathan Palfrey

Ghurka's? Methinks you mean the Gurkhas (surely no apostrophe called for). Though there seems to be an argument that the name should be spelled Gorkha, like the town.

Actually I've found all three spellings though the official one seems to be Gurkhas

http://www.army.mod.uk/brigade_of_gurkhas/

There is actually a site which discusses the various spellings here:

http://www.himalayan-imports.com/faq/Ghurkas.htm

Gorkha - men who fought for the King of Gorkha.