Face of Defense: Togolese-born Army NCO Lives His Dream

By Army Sgt. 1st Class Eric Pahon

82nd Combat Aviation Brigade

KHOWST PROVINCE, Afghanistan, June 26, 2012 – Army Sgt. Koku Adzoble joined the U.S. Army to make a better life for himself.

“Back in Africa, I was a teacher in high school,” said Adzoble, who claims Bronx, N.Y., as his stateside home. “When I came here, I was working in a store, and it wasn’t good for me. So, I joined the Army. I saw a way to make a difference in my life, and this is a much better place. That’s why I’m staying in.”

Adzoble emigrated to the U.S. in 2007 from Togo under the U.S. State Department’s visa lottery, which makes up to 55,000 visas available each year to countries with underrepresented populations in the U.S. The program requires applicants to either have a high school education, or two years’ work experience.

Adzoble won one of 3,777 visas offered in Togo. He graduated with a degree in physics from the University of Lomé in 2006 and was teaching high school until he moved to the United States a year later.

“I had a chance,” Adzoble said. “Some countries don’t get that chance [to award U.S. visas], so you play every year you’re eligible, and if you win, you get to come to the United States and get a visa. I was very lucky.”

Adzoble was working as a stock clerk in a New York City department store when a co-worker suggested that he join the U.S. Army.

“I was working for this one guy, and he joined the Army,” Adzoble said. “He left, and when he came back to visit, I listened to what he told me [about the Army]. What he was doing was better than what I had going at the time, so I decided to follow him. He’s the reason I joined.”

In basic training, Adzoble faced difficulty understanding English. He said his drill sergeant wanted to hold him back for additional English language training, but the company commander let him stay on and work toward graduation.

“French is our official language,” Adzoble said. “We went to school and took English as a second language, but no one really takes that seriously. We have two or three hours of English class, but no one pays that much attention to it so they don’t speak English that well.”

Adzoble improved his English skills and graduated with honors as an automated logistical specialist at Fort Lee, Va.

Following a two-year tour in Korea, Adzoble was stationed with Task Force Wolfpack, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, Fort Bragg, N.C., in December 2010. Eleven months later he deployed here to Forward Operating Base Salerno.

Army Sgt. 1st Class James Crews, Adzoble’s supervisor, says an unfailingly-positive attitude has allowed him to become a model soldier.

“He’s a hard worker,” said Crews. “He had some great leadership before he came to me in 2010. He’s one of those guys who goes straight to work when you ask him to do something. He doesn’t ask why; he just does it.”

Adzoble is a supply clerk at the base’s motor pool, keeping track of the parts inventory and monitoring deliveries. His job is critical to keeping the unit’s vehicles on the road, requiring attention to detail and the ability to keep track of dozens of components.

“He’s an encyclopedia,” Crews said of Adzoble. “He’s that type of guy who’ll pretty much look over something once or twice and he’s got it memorized. It comes in very useful. When I’m trying to find a part, I ask him, and he knows what I’m talking about and where to find it right away.”

Adzoble has a wife and a daughter in West Africa. His daughter, he said, is too young to leave Africa right now, but he hopes to establish a permanent home in the United States so his family can join him in a few years. First, he wants to explore the country and find a place he’d like his family to settle.

“I don’t want to bring them, then, the next day we have to move again,” Adzoble said. “It’s not like I don’t enjoy Fort Bragg, but I want to see more of the United States and see if there’s somewhere I might like even more.”

Adzoble hopes to earn a physics degree in the United States.

He re-enlisted for three more years of Army service, and he’s looking to earn a promotion before he leaves Afghanistan.

“He got pinned E-5 [sergeant] in December, and we’re probably going to send him to the E-6 [staff sergeant] promotion board before we leave Afghanistan,” Crews said. “He’s just that type of worker and has that type of leadership style.”

As for his daughter, Adzoble has no plans to push her into following in his footsteps.

“I’ll try my best to guide her on her own way,” he said. “She might want something different. The thing I can do is provide for her and do my best to support her. The one thing I want for her is to succeed and do something better with her life.”

Face of Defense: Marines Earn Citizenship Before Deployment

By Marine Corps Cpl. Isaac Lamberth

3rd Marine Aircraft Wing

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan, May 24, 2012 – Two Marines with Marine Wing Support Squadron 273 reached a turning point in their lives before deploying to Afghanistan.

Staff Sgt. Jason Constable, a watch officer and combat engineer, and Sgt. Jose Guadarramapedraza, an administration specialist, are now citizens of the United States.

“I’ve always felt like I was an American,” said Constable, a native of New Zealand.

Constable said he came to the United States in 1985 and completed his sophomore year in high school after having stayed in the country for four years. He returned in 1991 and became a security guard at a hospital in Phoenix before joining the Marine Corps in 1993.

“My father wanted me to join the French Foreign Legion,” he said. Instead, Constable sought his friends’ opinions on what the hardest option would be to serve in the U.S. military. His friends told him it was the Marine Corps.

Constable enlisted in 1993 and left the Corps when his enlistment ended four years later.

“I lived a pretty uneventful seven years after that,” he said. “After I got out, it just wasn’t the same.”

Constable said he missed the camaraderie and his sense of belonging and having a purpose in life. After the 9/11 attacks, he said, he felt a resurgence in patriotism and re-enlisted in 2004. In 2005, he deployed to Iraq, where he earned a Purple Heart after being injured when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb.

Constable said he wanted to earn his citizenship, and he also needed it to perform his duties. “I started needing clearances that I couldn’t get because I wasn’t a citizen,” he explained. He took his citizenship oath hours before he deployed to Afghanistan.

Guadarramapedraza migrated to Idaho from central Mexico with his family of 11. He grew up in Mountain Home and enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2004. He said he had permanent residency before he joined, but that not being a citizen began to hamper his ability to carry out day-to-day activities at work.

“I can do my job easier and not have headaches from having to renew my green card and not be able to do certain tasks with my job,” he said. “It’s a huge relief.”

Guadarramapedraza said gaining his citizenship has opened new avenues for him at work. As an administrative specialist, he ensures squadron personnel are paid their entitlements and receive their awards. The new clearances allow him to access secure networks while he’s deployed.

“I felt proud,” he said. “It was the right thing to do for my family and the Marine Corps. In order to do my job and be proficient and support my Marines, I needed my citizenship,” he said.

Minnesota Army National Guard member, Ukraine native officially becomes U.S. citizen

By Army National Guard Capt. Michael Lovas

Minnesota National Guard

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait (3/28/12) – Spc. Yaroslav Sergei Dmytrochenko joined the Minnesota Army National Guard as a Ukrainian citizen, proudly serving as an American Soldier. While deployed to Kuwait he was able to officially earn his U.S. citizenship in a Naturalization Ceremony held at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait Saturday.

He left Minnesota as a Ukrainian and will return home as an American.

Dmytrochenko started his military career in 2008. Like every Soldier, he took an oath pledging to defend the Constitution of the United States. What makes his story different and unique is that when he took that oath, he was not an American citizen, he was a Ukrainian citizen.

He was born in Ukraine in 1989 and his family relocated to Minnesota in. Then he didn’t speak any English, but attended school and worked hard to learn the language by the end of his freshman year of high school.

After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the Minnesota Army National Guard, as a tank mechanic, and was assigned to Charlie Company, 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 194th Armor of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry “Red Bulls” Division.

“I was always thinking of joining” he said. “In Ukraine [all males] have to.”

Along his journey to citizenship he’s had great support and interest from fellow Soldiers.

“A lot of people didn’t know a non-citizen can serve in the military,” Dmytrochenko said. “It’s been a good thing that I had an opportunity to serve.”

In 2011 he deployed to Kuwait as a Ukrainian citizen wearing an American flag patch on his shoulder as an American Soldier.

While in Kuwait, he learned about an opportunity to finally earn his citizenship, something his mother and sister had already been able to complete.

He stood with 14 other service members in the Camp Arifjan Chapel as Ambassador Matthew Tueller, U.S. ambassador to Kuwait and Maj. Gen. Gary Cheek, deputy commanding general-Kuwait of Third Army/U.S. Army Central, observed the Oath of Naturalization. After the oath the 15 service members stood shoulder to shoulder and proudly recited the Pledge of Allegiance for the first time as American citizens.

“It was nice that the Army could help me with this” Dmytrochenko said. “It feels good to be an official citizen.”

Now that he is an American citizen, he is able to obtain a U.S. passport so he can travel back to Ukraine to visit family he hasn’t seen in eight years.

Dmytrochenko posted on his Facebook wall, “I’m officially an American” and said he received more responses than he’s ever had on Facebook. He said the outpouring of support, respect and excitement for him has been amazing.

Djibouti: Deployed Kansas Guard member becomes a naturalized American

Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa report

CAMP LEMONNIER, Djibouti (1/30/12) – U.S. Soldiers and Sailors waved miniature American flags as they welcomed America’s newest citizens into their ranks, including a Kansas Guard member from Panama.

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Kelan Scott and Kansas Army National Guard Sgt. Joel Lara raised their right hands and swore the oath of allegiance to the United States in front of other U.S. service members during a naturalization ceremony here Jan. 25.

“This was pretty cool,” said Scott, a utilitiesman with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 5 who emigrated to the United States from St. Lucia, an island country in the eastern Caribbean Sea. “This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be naturalized here, at Camp Lemonnier. It was very gracious of the camp leadership to do this.”

Homeland Security U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Nairobi Field Office Director Sonia Gulati said she has overseen these types of ceremonies for three years and this was the first time she conducted one at Camp Lemonnier.

“Truly this is one of the best parts of my job – clearing individuals for citizenship who are so dedicated to America. I always end up with tears in my eyes,” she said.

Both Lara and Scott said they left their respective countries for a higher quality living standard as well as education. The two men made serving in the military a top priority when they arrived in the United States and their service was appreciated by many in attendance today.

U.S. Navy Constructionman Aarron Emmons of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 5, a friend of Scott, said he thinks immigrants are an asset to the military because of their dedication to America. Even though they are not yet citizens, they are willing to serve, he said.

Diversity “is part of the U.S. military’s strength,” said Navy Capt. Gerry Hutchinson, Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa director of religious affairs. “To me it’s great to have a military force that is diverse as the nation it defends.”

Having other service members in attendance during the ceremony was meaningful to Lara, a native of Panama and a sergeant in C Battery, 1st Battalion 161st Field Artillery, Kansas Army National Guard.

“It feels good and I am happy,” he said with a smile. “The people here are my brothers and sisters, and I am an American with them now.”

Face of Defense: Soldier Takes Citizenship Oath in Iraq

By Army Spc. Kandi Huggins

U.S. Division North

CONTINGENCY OPERATING SITE WARRIOR, Iraq, July 7, 2011 – Swearing the oath to support, defend and serve the United States while serving in the Army was not quite enough for one soldier deployed to Iraq with 1st Infantry Division’s 1st Advise and Assist Task Force.

Standing before a host of soldiers July 4, Army Spc. Angie Schaefer, a petroleum supply specialist with the task force’s Company A, 101st Brigade Support Battalion, now had the opportunity to raise her hand and swear another oath she has wanted to take since high school: the oath that would make her an American citizen.

Schaefer said she came from a very close-knit, traditional family and attended private school in her native Colombia.

“It was definitely a different experience after I came to the states,” she said.

Schaefer said she was 7 when her grandparents moved to Miami, where she was able to get a free education. She said she had wanted to join the Army since participating in Junior ROTC in high school. She was able to enlist based on her permanent resident status in the United States.

Two years later, Schaefer found herself in Iraq with U.S. Division North, supporting Operation New Dawn.

“She’s always working with a smile on her face,” said Army 1st Lt. Jesse Dean Swanzy, a quartermaster officer and Schaefer’s platoon leader. “Specialist Schaefer constantly contributes by volunteering to go on missions to supply our outlying forward operating bases. She leaves her mark on [Operation New Dawn] by helping her country through literally supplying the advise, train, assist mission.”

As a member of the 1st Platoon “Road Warriors,” Schaefer drives supply trucks to bases around Contingency Operating Site Warrior.

Fellow soldiers helped to prepare Schaefer for the naturalization test required to become a U.S. citizen, Swanzy said, adding that the unit really supports soldiers.

During the ceremony, Schaefer smiled as she shook hands with Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, commander of U.S. Forces Iraq, who congratulated and welcomed her as a citizen of the nation she serves.

“I’m excited,” Schaefer said. “Becoming a citizen makes me feel accomplished, because I will be the first one in my family to become a citizen – not just a permanent resident – and I will have more stability in everything I am doing and plan to do.”

After the citizenship ceremony, Schaefer said she wants to attain her security clearance and go to college through Green to Gold, an Army program that allows soldiers to go to college and become officers through ROTC.

“I know it will be a challenge,” she said, “but I know I can do it, and I welcome whatever the future holds for me.”

From Baghdad to Badgerland, new Soldier enlists in Wisconsin National Guard

By Sgt. Michelle Gonzalez

112th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

One of the newest Wisconsin Army National Guard enlistees already has served overseas with one of its units.

Abbab Taj Mousa - affectionately known as "Cowboy" - recited the oath of allegiance during a June 3 ceremony at the Military Entrance Processing Station in downtown Milwaukee. But the Baghdad native worked as an interpreter with members of the Wisconsin Army National Guard's 332nd Rear Operations Center during the unit's 2007 deployment to Iraq.

After obtaining a visa from the U.S. Embassy, Mousa came to the United States in August 2009 to be with family.

"Wisconsin was the first place I came to in America," Mousa said. "I chose to enlist in Wisconsin because of the friends I already have in the Wisconsin Guard."

Becoming a Wisconsin Guardsman took nearly three months. "The process was frustrating at times because I'm not yet a citizen," Mousa said. "The interpreter job I was hoping for was closed, so I had to explore other options. Once I get my citizenship, I plan to go to officer candidate school."

Mousa is scheduled to leave for basic training in Fort Jackson, S.C. in November. After learning the basic Soldiering skills, he will continue on to become an automated logistical specialist where he will handle the distribution of nearly every type of supply. He will then join the ranks of Company A, 257th Brigade Support Battalion in Whitewater.

Face of Defense: Deployed Soldier Becomes U.S. Citizen

By Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Julie Brummund

Task Force White Eagle

GHAZNI PROVINCE, Afghanistan, May 16, 2011 – Members of the provincial reconstruction team here welcomed their newest American citizen May 5 with a party dubbed “Cinco de Santos.”

Army Spc. Rafael Santos from the Massachusetts National Guard’s 1st Platoon, Company D, 1st Battalion, 181st Infantry Regiment, returned recently from Kandahar, where he took his citizenship exam and then took part in a citizenship oath ceremony along with about 75 other new citizens.

A native of Brazil, Santos moved to the United States 10 years ago with his parents. A cousin, Army Spc. Marcelo Gomes, is serving on this deployment with him. Both men now call Marlboro, Mass., home.

Normally, a naturalization applicant must be a lawful permanent resident in the United States for five years immediately preceding their application, but for members of the U.S. military, that time is reduced to one year. For service members serving during a time of declared hostilities, there is no such requirement. They simply must have served honorably in active-duty status for any period of time; however, should they be discharged under other than honorable conditions, their citizenship may be revoked.

Military members still are required to take an exam demonstrating knowledge of U.S. government and history and pass an interview with an Immigration and Naturalization Service agent.

“I was a little nervous, because I didn’t know what to expect, but the people in Kandahar were really nice,” Santos said. “I went there a little early to study the questions. The test was pretty easy; I knew most of it already from college. I’m happy, and now I’m out here serving my country.”

Santos, who is studying business administration and accounting, was three years into his college career when he was called upon to serve on this deployment.

Wisconsin Guard Soldier becomes U.S. citizen in Iraq

Wisconsin National Guard Public Affairs Office

President's Day will likely be a special holiday for a Wisconsin National Guard Soldier currently serving in Iraq - it will be the anniversary of the day the 25-year-old Wisconsin Army National Guard Soldier became a U.S. citizen.

Spc. Carlos Villa-Rivera, Keil, Wis., is a decontamination specialist deployed to Iraq with Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 147th Aviation Regiment. He is also one of 53 Soldiers representing 31 nationalities who took the oath of citizenship Feb. 21 during a naturalization ceremony at Saddam Hussein's Al Faw Palace in Baghdad.

"To become a citizen is something I've wanted to do for a long time," said Mexico-born Villa-Rivera. His family obtained visas and moved to Wisconsin in 2000 when he was 15 years old because the area of Mexico where they had been living was becoming dangerous. "My mother wanted better opportunities for us," he explained.

"It has been called the 'Great American Experience'," said Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, United States Forces-Iraq commander, during the naturalization ceremony. "It is called that because it became a nation of immigrants on a foreign land and none of them knew at the time whether it would succeed or fail."

Austin went on to say that the Soldiers who became citizens in Camp Victory are a reminder that the strength evident in the nation and the Army comes from ethnic and cultural diversity.

Villa-Rivera joined the Wisconsin National Guard for the education benefits, and hopes to make a career in the Guard. 1st Sgt. Jason Hanson, the senior noncommissioned officer in Villa-Rivera's unit, spoke highly of the Soldier he refers to as "Spc. 'V'."

"He is a 'never say die' troop who constantly seeks out more responsibility," Hanson said. "He is an air assault graduate and he made that look easy. He puts a face to the Army values, and I am ever so proud to have him as one of my warriors."

Hanson added that Villa-Rivera is a two-time battalion Soldier of the year winner, and this year was a top-five finisher at the brigade level competition.

The new citizens had a chance to meet each other and trade stories of their journey from their homeland to Saddam's palace the week leading up to the ceremony. All were brought from their bases throughout Iraq to ensure that their citizenship and passport paperwork were in order prior to reciting the Pledge of Allegiance as U.S. citizens for the first time.

Villa-Rivera began the citizenship application process last September in Iraq, and said he received plenty of assistance from unit leadership and military legal advisors. He said he is looking forward to voting for the first time.

"If you don't participate in the democratic process, you don't have a valid reason to complain," he said.

The 147th arrived in Iraq last September following six weeks of training at Fort Hood. The Soldiers are responsible for all aviation operations - including troop and cargo movements, medevac and attack missions - in United States Division-South, which covers nine provinces of Iraq, including the area south of Baghdad.

Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Troth, Enhanced Combat Aviation Brigade Public Affairs, contributed to this report.