Although few are eligible, Europeans,
Africans express interest in enlistment
By Kent Harris, Stars
and Stripes
Kent Harris / Stars and Stripes
Sgt. 1st Class Alcibiades Angulo watches as Todd Glover fills out paperwork Thursday to
join the U.S. Army at the Army recruiting station in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Glover, a
Kaiserslautern resident, served in the Army from 1984 to 1986. He will soon fly back to
the States to enter basic training. |
The terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., inspired a wave of patriotism
in the United States that wasn’t all that surprising to most students of history.
Wars bring Americans together.
What may be a surprise is the apparent surge of patriotism it inspired in those of
other nationalities.
Air Force and Army recruiters in Europe report hundreds of contacts from Europeans and
Africans in the days after the attack. The message: How can we join?
According to 1st Sgt. Dale Vogel, the detachment commander for Army Recruiting Europe,
most of them couldn’t.
"We had an influx of call-ins," Vogel said from his office in Heidelberg,
Germany. "But about 90 percent of them weren’t qualified."
That’s because people generally have to be U.S. citizens, have residence permits
or be working toward U.S. citizenship to get into the military.
Still, Vogel said the fact that about 80 percent of the 200 or so e-mails he received
were from foreign nationals "was really uplifting."
It was a similar message for the Air Force in Europe. Master Sgt. Clay Stark said
recruiters fielded inquiries from countries across Europe.
"Especially from communities where there are Americans because they know us and
know [the good] we’re doing," said Clark, who is based at Rhein-Main Air Base
and one of seven Air Force recruiters in Europe.
Clay said in his 15 years in the Air Force he’s seen similar sentiments expressed
in times of crisis. He also expected calls from Americans with prior military experience.
And he got them.
Unfortunately, many of them are no longer eligible because of age restrictions. Tech.
Sgt. Willie Watkins at the Air Force’s recruiting office at Ramstein Air Base said
his office received a handful of calls from retirees, but none were eligible to return to
duty.
A few miles away in Kaiserslautern, Army Sgt. 1st Class Alcibiades Angulo said his
office — one of four the Army has in Europe — was busy especially for the first
two days after the attack.
Calls came in "basically from people who served in the military already," he
said.
One of those, Kaiserslautern resident Todd Glover, finished his paperwork Thursday.
He’s scheduled to fly Saturday to South Carolina to go to basic training. The
36-year-old who served for two years in the 1980s said he’s excited to get back into
the military.
"I was going to do it anyway, and when [the attacks] happened, that just enhanced
my feelings and made me want to do it more," he said.
Without that prior service, Glover wouldn’t qualify to join the Army. Those
without prior service have to be 34 or younger. But those who have served can subtract the
years they served from their age to effectively make themselves younger in the Army’s
eyes, Angulo said. The Air Force has similar age restrictions.
Reservists in Europe also have made their voices heard.
Col. Glen Fike, the Air Reserve component adviser for the 16th Air Force, said there
are about 50 reservists living around Aviano Air Base in Italy. As a group, they are
qualified to perform just about every duty the Air Force needs. And many are ready to do
so.
He said the names of 17 of them have been submitted to U.S. Air Forces in Europe
headquarters if the word goes out to activate reservists in Europe. As of Thursday
afternoon, that word had reportedly not gone out to any Army or Air Force reservists in
Europe.
Fike said personnel from Aviano have deployed recently and "it just makes all
kinds of sense to have these folks we have in place to backfill for them."
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