Perspective: Troops become citizens this Memorial Day

Thirty-one members of the U.S. military will raise their right hands and become U.S. citizens in two overseas ceremonies scheduled around Memorial Day.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service has helped more than 3,600 service members become U.S. citizens since October 2004, when overseas naturalization ceremonies were authorized for members of the military.

Since September 2001, more than 28,500 service members have been naturalized in stateside ceremonies. About 40,000 non-U.S. citizens are serving in the U.S. military, according to the agency.

The first of next week’s ceremonies will take place Monday at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, where 16 active-duty men and women from 14 countries and one American territory will take the oath of allegiance.

They are from American Samoa, Antigua-Barbuda, Argentina, Belize, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, St. Vincent-Grenadines and Taiwan.

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