2 new U.S. citizens sign up to interpret in Iraq
By Amy Schlesing (Contact)
CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait — Spc. Sabrina Queen quietly walked through the tent of sleeping soldiers carrying a bag of citizenship papers back to her cot, trying not to wake anyone.
The ink had barely dried on the papers when she arrived in Kuwait the day before as a brand-new American headed to war. It all happened so fast that she didn’t have time to get her security clearance — a necessity for the U.S. Army’s Arabic linguists — so she had to dig out her papers in Kuwait.
“That was the best day,” she said of gaining American citizenship. “I have been waiting for this for a long time.”
It was March 13, just hours before flying to Kuwait with Arkansas’ 39th Infantry Brigade, when she and fellow Arab linguist Spc. Eddie Edwards drove from Camp Shelby, Miss., to New Orleans to take their citizenship exams. The call came back to brigade headquarters a few hours later: There were two new citizens in the ranks.
Edwards said he was proud to hold that flag after saying his oath of citizenship. “You don’t understand. It was like,” he said, exhaling dramatically, “a relief. I am safe.”
For more information see today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Subscribers can read the story here on ArkansasOnline.
This article was published Thursday, March 20, 2008.
