Soldiers earn citizenship on eve of deployment - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Soldiers earn citizenship on eve of deployment

TULSA, Okla. — Three Oklahoma National Guard members in El Paso, Texas, preparing for deployment to Iraq have become United States citizens.

Jamaica native Sgt. Gareth Wilson, 27; Spc. Oyewale Hotonu-Oyerinde, 28, from Nigeria; and Tulsan Sgt. Adam Ngotngamwong, whose father is from Thailand and whose mother is Canadian, all gained their citizenship on Friday, expedited by their service with Oklahoma’s 45th Infantry Brigade.

An executive order signed by President Bush shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks means the normal wait required for legal residents of the U.S. is waived for those serving in the military, along with the application fee.

“I just wanted to go to Iraq as an American citizen,” said Tulsan Ngotngamwong, 25, who previously deployed in 2004 to Afghanistan. “It makes it closer to home. You are fighting for your country, instead of just being a legal citizen.”

Wilson also is from Tulsa, and Hotonu-Oyerinde is from Oklahoma City.

The pending deployment of the three to Iraq underscored for them the opportunity to get their citizenship on the fast track. Initial headquarters elements of Oklahoma’s 45th are deploying over the next few days to their pending mission in Baghdad, Iraq. After a farewell formation Sunday, the unit will begin shipping its soldiers first to Kuwait for processing, then to Baghdad’s International Zone.

The mission can’t come soon enough for Wilson, who said he, like Ngotngamwong, chose to become a citizen on the eve of his deployment.

“I just wanted to be deployed as a citizen. Also, it’s an election year and I wanted to vote,” he said.

For Hotonu-Oyerinde, citizenship provides a boost to his feelings about serving.

“I was already wanting to fight for the country. But this gives that more effort,” Hotonu-Oyerinde said.

James Spurling, an officer with the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said members of the 45th pleaded on behalf of the men to U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., and U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin, R-Okla., for help.

“Seventy-two hours after I submitted it, I had the results sitting on my desk,” Spurling said. “A guy at the Nebraska service center found their applications in the middle of 10,000 others, and shepherded them through the process.”