Those Who Serve - Are Now Citizens

It was the summer of 1969. I was on a bus headed to Denver. The guy in front of me was downing a pint of whiskey. He hoped being too drunk would save him from the draft. The rest of the guys were quiet like myself. A few had questions. “Hey man I smoked a doobie a few days ago will it show up on the urine test, will I go to jail?” I looked out the window. I didn’t expect to be coming back to Colorado Springs any time soon. My number was 11, I was going to Viet Nam. Or so I thought. We took the I. Q. test, and proceeded to medical. A burley 1st Sergeant noticed my limp, so they held me over for x-rays. The Dr. looked at the x-ray and asked me questions. Yeah 3 times this year I had broken my ankle, football wrestling and soccer. The breaks had kept me out of some games, but I bounced back. I could play with heavy tape, and I loved sports so I did play. The Dr’s a year before had wanted to fuse my ankle bone, and the result would be a permanent limp. I refused. Now the Dr. looked at me. “You don’t really want to go to Viet Nam do you?” I didn’t know how to answer. I didn’t have to. He asked me to wait in the hall. The same burley 1st Sergeant (God he looked tough) came up and placed his hand on my shoulder. There was sadness in his eyes. “ I’m sorry son” he said “You can’t be in the Army”. I tried to look somber, but I was elated. Yeah it was 1969 and I wanted to party. This Viet Nam stuff was going to get in the way. It wasn't until years later I began to regret never serving my country. Decades later I finally got the chance. The voice on the phone said “wow your photos look like National Geographic stuff” ... “Can you go to Iraq?”
I have shot 3 naturalization ceremony's in Iraq. It never ceases to amaze me how badly these soldiers want to become citizens of the U.S. Badly enough to fight in a war, with a chance of dying before their dream comes true. I do value my blue passport with the seal of the United States of America, I am forever grateful for the opportunities that the United States has given me, but I think like most Americans, I will never value my citizenship as much as the soldiers I photographed today.

Lee Craker