The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum

=> a moving marine

Posted by parhad (Guest) - Tuesday, March 30 2004, 6:05:47 (EST)
from 200.94.234.80 - 200.94.234.80 -

Windows XP -

Internet Explorer
Website:
Website title:

this supposed to be an inspirational story I guess...it`s about a Christian from Iraq too stupid to pass the military intelligence test, no less...who fought long and hard to finally get in anyway! naturally his views on Iraq and Democracy and physics fit right in with OTHER morons running the government of America..if an idiot like Bush gets into office and no one minds...can a Marine with sub-standard intelligence..and then many whole platoons and companies of them be far behind? Wullah in the new America stupidity is a badge of honor.

An Assyrian soldier

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Beth Suryoyo Assyrian (Othuroyo) Forum

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Written by Ben on 30 Mar 2004 10:38:04:

Geschrieben von / Written by Tebe am 29. März 2004 22:36:50:

Submitted by: 6th Marine Corps District
Story Identification Number: 2004329145041
Story by SSgt. Tracie Kesslar

RSS Bradenton, Fla.(March 29, 2004) -- The United States has been called “the
Great Melting Pot,” referring to the vast wealth of different cultures and people
that have been called to America by its promises of freedom and liberty.

For one Recruiting Station Orlando Marine, his family answered the call and
escaped from a hostile country to settle in the land of the free.

Staff Sgt. Edmond Ahkteebo, a recruiter at Recruiting Substation Bradenton,
Fla., was originally born in Baghdad, Iraq. With his fair skin, light green eyes
and Mid-western accent, a person would guess he was from any number of
places.

At the young age of four, his father was able to bring his family to the United
States and settled in Chicago.

“My father told (the government) we were going on vacation to Beirut,
Lebanon and we just never came back. My Dad had friends at the U.S.
Embassy and they gave us green cards right away allowing us to move to the
United States,” said Ahkteebo.

Ahkteebo’s family is Assyrian, one of the four major nationalities in Iraq. He
explained other Iraqis have heavily persecuted Assyrians because Assyrians
are the only Christians in the entire country.

“We’re like second-class citizens. If you’re not Muslim you’re second-class. But
all that has changed since Saddam Hussein has been taken out of power,”
Ahkteebo explained.

Even though he comes from a more unique background than many Marines, he
believes he is no different than any other Marine. Many times, curious Marines
will ask about his name or his origin and he is more than willing to talk about it.

“(Marines) find it hard to believe. They ask me why did I leave my country, if I
am Muslim. It’s an interesting subject to them,” he explained.

“When they see me, they only see a Marine. I try to explain that you don’t
have to be from America to be an American. It’s about believing in America.”

After living in the U.S. for over 20 years, Ahkteebo still has ties to Iraq. His
mother still keeps in touch with two brothers, both of whom fought for Iraq in
the first Gulf War, and his father keeps in touch with his sisters. Having family
living in Iraq and knowing the conditions they were living in before the war
started made it tough for him to have to sit out the war.

“I don't believe that things are better, I know they are, from family members
telling us. Things aren't the greatest right now, but it's going to get better and
they know it," he said.

“My parents have told me all of the horror stories. You had to have a picture of
Saddam Hussein in your house, just all of the basic rights we take for granted
(were denied in Iraq),” he said.

“Everyday (during the war) I’d watch the news and it would be eating me up
inside because it’s my country. I speak the language and I should be there
with the Marines and helping out with the reconstruction of the country,”
Ahkteebo said.

Ahkteebo’s enlistment into the Marine Corps could be considered as unique as
his background. He explained that when he decided to join the Marine Corps
he only had a general education degree and scored a 48 on the Armed
Services Vocational Aptitude Test. To join with a GED, he had to have a score of
50 or higher.

His desire to join the Marines and serve his country was so strong, however,
that he was not going to take no for an answer. After dealing with his
recruiting station commanding officer and the Eastern and Western Recruiting
Regions, his quest finally led him to the Commandant of the Marine Corps.

After several attempts at calling the Commandant, at that time it was General
Charles Krulak, he was finally able to get through.

“He said ‘You keep calling here and harassing my secretary’, so he took my
information and the (recruiting station commanding officer) called me 15
minutes later. Two days later I was at (the military entrance processing
station),” explained Ahkteebo.

“I thought it was important to serve my country and the best way to do that
was through the Marine Corps,” said Ahkteebo.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf

---------------------

- BACK TO INDEX - REPLY - QUOTE - EDIT - DELETE -

The full topic:
No replies.

Accept: image/gif, image/x-xbitmap, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint, application/vnd.ms-excel, applicatio...
Accept-encoding: gzip, deflate
Accept-language: es-mx
Cache-control: no-cache
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-length: 5951
Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Cookie: *hidded*
Host: www.insideassyria.com
Referer: http://www.insideassyria.com/rkvsf/rkvsf_core.php?.aory.
User-agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1)