Grateful Sudanese Joins US Army

Posted on March 11, 2008
Filed Under America, Sudanese |

Now this is a story you just don’t see everyday:

Mahagoub, 41, enlisted in September 2003, shortly after becoming a U.S. citizen and after living for nine years as a political refugee in Japan, where he had fled from his native Sudan.

He said he felt it was time to pay back all that the United States had given him.

… Mahagoub said he found himself immersed in the Midwest’s culture of “beef, beer, football and country-western music.”

Until then, “football” meant “soccer,” and when asked by his new neighbors if he liked “country” music, he replied, “Which country?”

He found himself accepted by his neighbors, and keeps the tenets of a Sufi Muslim by eating at kosher restaurants.

During his tour in Iraq, Mahagoub rode with supply convoys as a linguistic analyst tasked with interrogating bystanders when convoys came under attack or were struck by roadside bombs.

… “The locals would see me in a U.S. uniform, and I spoke their language. I’m one of them, one who brings peace,” he said.

A few considered him a traitor for working for the Americans and wearing the uniform, he said, so “I had to be careful.

Most of the Sudanese I know who enlisted in the US military did so purely for the money. They say so themselves. There are a few however like the guy in this story who join up for genuine reasons of gratitude. They can easily find well-paying jobs but instead choose to serve in the military, a move that causes divisive reactions within the Muslim Sudanese Diaspora in America. In the eyes of those who have lived in the United States for a long time and are well integrated, it’s normal but in the eyes of those who recently arrived, putting on the uniform is at best “sinful” and at worst a huge betrayal. The reason for the latter is confused and divided loyalty between the country of origin and the new adopted home.

Comments

3 Responses to “Grateful Sudanese Joins US Army”

  1. Andrew Brehm on March 11th, 2008 9:44 am

    You see, THAT’s a patriot!

  2. Craig on March 11th, 2008 12:21 pm

    Good stuff, Drima :)

    When I was in the Marines, it always surprised me how high a percentage of recruits we got from immigrant communities that are very small in the US. Filipinos, Koreans, Peruvians, Samoans, Guamanians, the list is endless. I don’t really think they join for the money, because if that was the case it would be a universal. My take on it is that every community has a different opinion about the value military service.

  3. Andrew Brehm on March 11th, 2008 1:26 pm

    “My take on it is that every community has a different opinion about the value military service.”

    I think it’s usually those that actually had contact with the army in the past who want to join.

Leave a Reply