Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Fayetteville (NC) Observer
October 24, 2008
By Henry Cuningham, Military editor
Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday congratulated 41 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines after they received U.S. citizenship in a ceremony at Pope Air Force Base.
“That famous melting pot that we talked about still works,” Gates said at the naturalization ceremony for people who have served in the armed forces.
Gates, who was an Air Force second lieutenant and rose through the ranks of the CIA to become director of central intelligence, has been defense secretary since December 2006.
He spent Thursday at Pope and Fort Bragg visiting U.S. Army Special Operations Command units and the 82nd Airborne Division.
People from 26 countries on five continents raised their right hands to take the oath in which they pledged loyalty to the United States and renounced allegiance to other nations.
The new citizens included Fort Bragg soldiers and Camp Lejeune Marines. They are from places such as Haiti, the Philippines, the Bahamas, Sierra Leone, Mexico, Vietnam and Poland.
Pfc. Bohdana Partridge, a medic in the 82nd Airborne Division, was born and grew up in the part of Czechoslovakia that is now the Czech Republic.
“I was 14 when the communism fell,” she said after the ceremony. “So I remember it well: ‘Do as told. Don’t question authority.’ You had to pay attention to who your neighbors were. You couldn’t trust everyone. You had to be very careful of what you said. I could never understand why there were certain books we couldn’t read, certain music we couldn’t listen to, why we couldn’t travel abroad. The only language we could learn was Russian.”
Partridge said she is ready to vote now that she is a citizen.
“I already filled out my absentee ballot,” she said. “Now I just have to mail it.”
Some of the new citizens already had deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan or other places. Others expect to go within a year.
Gates praised them for their “willingness to put yourself in harm’s way.”
After the ceremony, Gates departed for stops on Fort Bragg, including Special Forces and the 82nd Airborne Division. Gates said he did not discuss the possibility of early deployments to Afghanistan with the 82nd.
Lt. Gen. Dave Rodriguez, Gates’ senior military assistant and former commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, accompanied him on the trip.
He observed training in the simulation center on Longstreet Road and then held a press conference for reporters.
Asked about the deaths of women military personnel in North Carolina, “We are very concerned about the stress on the force ... We obviously want to stop all kinds of violence.”
Gates said he receives a monthly report from the Army on levels of domestic violence, alcohol-related problems and family problems such as divorces.
“We and the Army are monitoring it very carefully,” he said. “We have a lot of programs in place to try and deal with this.”
The Defense Department has $900 million this year to deal with post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury, including $300 million for research, Gates said.
“The Army has undertaken a major training effort to help people identify the symptoms of PTS and to persuade soldiers of every rank from general down to the newest private to recognize those symptoms and seek help,” he said. “One of the big issues we are dealing with is trying to remove the stigma of seeking help.”
Gates said he believes progress has been made, but “we have a strong culture, so it’s going to take some time.”
Gates said he did not visit the 82nd barracks that became famous earlier this year because of a YouTube video showing shabby, unsanitary living conditions for soldiers who had just returned from Afghanistan. The video prompted an inspection by President Bush.
“It looked to me like the president probably took care of that,” he said.
October 24, 2008
By Henry Cuningham, Military editor
Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday congratulated 41 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines after they received U.S. citizenship in a ceremony at Pope Air Force Base.
“That famous melting pot that we talked about still works,” Gates said at the naturalization ceremony for people who have served in the armed forces.
Gates, who was an Air Force second lieutenant and rose through the ranks of the CIA to become director of central intelligence, has been defense secretary since December 2006.
He spent Thursday at Pope and Fort Bragg visiting U.S. Army Special Operations Command units and the 82nd Airborne Division.
People from 26 countries on five continents raised their right hands to take the oath in which they pledged loyalty to the United States and renounced allegiance to other nations.
The new citizens included Fort Bragg soldiers and Camp Lejeune Marines. They are from places such as Haiti, the Philippines, the Bahamas, Sierra Leone, Mexico, Vietnam and Poland.
Pfc. Bohdana Partridge, a medic in the 82nd Airborne Division, was born and grew up in the part of Czechoslovakia that is now the Czech Republic.
“I was 14 when the communism fell,” she said after the ceremony. “So I remember it well: ‘Do as told. Don’t question authority.’ You had to pay attention to who your neighbors were. You couldn’t trust everyone. You had to be very careful of what you said. I could never understand why there were certain books we couldn’t read, certain music we couldn’t listen to, why we couldn’t travel abroad. The only language we could learn was Russian.”
Partridge said she is ready to vote now that she is a citizen.
“I already filled out my absentee ballot,” she said. “Now I just have to mail it.”
Some of the new citizens already had deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan or other places. Others expect to go within a year.
Gates praised them for their “willingness to put yourself in harm’s way.”
After the ceremony, Gates departed for stops on Fort Bragg, including Special Forces and the 82nd Airborne Division. Gates said he did not discuss the possibility of early deployments to Afghanistan with the 82nd.
Lt. Gen. Dave Rodriguez, Gates’ senior military assistant and former commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, accompanied him on the trip.
He observed training in the simulation center on Longstreet Road and then held a press conference for reporters.
Asked about the deaths of women military personnel in North Carolina, “We are very concerned about the stress on the force ... We obviously want to stop all kinds of violence.”
Gates said he receives a monthly report from the Army on levels of domestic violence, alcohol-related problems and family problems such as divorces.
“We and the Army are monitoring it very carefully,” he said. “We have a lot of programs in place to try and deal with this.”
The Defense Department has $900 million this year to deal with post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury, including $300 million for research, Gates said.
“The Army has undertaken a major training effort to help people identify the symptoms of PTS and to persuade soldiers of every rank from general down to the newest private to recognize those symptoms and seek help,” he said. “One of the big issues we are dealing with is trying to remove the stigma of seeking help.”
Gates said he believes progress has been made, but “we have a strong culture, so it’s going to take some time.”
Gates said he did not visit the 82nd barracks that became famous earlier this year because of a YouTube video showing shabby, unsanitary living conditions for soldiers who had just returned from Afghanistan. The video prompted an inspection by President Bush.
“It looked to me like the president probably took care of that,” he said.