US Marine Corps considers a Foreign Legion

[EX500rider]

Special Operations: USMC Irregular Warfare Regiment

"The U.S. Marine Corps wants to form an Irregular Warfare Regiment (IWR) that would be a cross between the French Foreign Legion and the U.S. Army Special Forces. The IWR would have 4,200 troops and about 3,000 would be foreign born and selected because they were physically and mentally able to enlist and had language and cultural awareness skills the marines needed in various parts of the world. All officers and NCOs above the rank of E-5 (sergeant) would be U.S. citizens. If the program is established eventually many IWR officers and senior NCOs would be naturalized citizens. In effect, a foreign legion composed mostly of foreign volunteers seeking a quicker path to citizenship and able to meet Marine Corps standards.
Many IWR would be recruited overseas and after security screening would, if necessary, be sent to English language school where they would have to complete the course (and attain sufficient proficiency to handle military service) and then sent to boot camp. Once completing that they would be marines, serving a five year enlistment, and would then be sent to existing courses for intelligence, advising foreign forces, information warfare, counterinsurgency and security. All this would take nearly two years. Successful completion of all that would mean they would show up at the IWR with three years left. Upon successful completion of their five year enlistment non-citizen marines would become naturalized citizens. The IWR itself would be a light infantry unit with most of the troops expected to serve in small detachments with marine battalions or companies assigned to a foreign area. The IWR marines would be trusted translators and advisors who would be better able to work with foreigners whose language and culture they grew up in. In addition they are marines and that makes it easier for all marines in the vicinity.

The U.S. military has had experience with similar programs but all have suffered from problems with doing background checks for personnel who will be handling classified materials. The most recent such program, the 2008 MAVNI (Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest) was looking for qualified non-citizens able to provide needed language or medical skills. Some 10,000 non-citizens were enlisted from 2009 until the program was put on hold in 2017. There were problems with the security screening. There were not enough qualified people to do it and it was believed foreign intel organizations were seeking to use MAVNI as a way to insert agents. That was because as originally set up MAVNI was the quickest way for a non-citizen to get a security clearance and citizenship. The IWR program somewhat solves that problem because getting through marine boot camp and serving with other marines over an extended period has proved to be something foreign intelligence agencies deem too difficult to deal with.

Actually, an even earlier program, that was not particularly special at all, handled about 100,000 non-citizens with better results than with native born Americans. In the decade after September 11, 2001 it was found that non-citizens of prime military age (18-29) made up about 2.2 percent of the U.S. population, but 4 percent of military personnel. There are about 1.2 million non-citizens who are physically, mentally, and psychologically fit to serve in the military. These men and women are particularly attractive to the military because they tend to work harder, have fewer disciplinary problems, and often possess language skills and cultural knowledge that the military needs. But a major reason non-citizens are overrepresented in the military is that it's an ancient tradition for a newcomer to gain membership in the tribe/kingdom/country via performing some dangerous service to gain recognition and acceptance.

The United States is not alone in this acceptance of foreigners in the military. Take, for example, Britain. Two centuries ago Nepalese Gurkhas were first recruited into the British Indian army and then the British army. After India became independent in 1947, they too recruited Gurkhas for elite Indian infantry units. But service in the British army was considered a better deal. Britain has long recruited foreigners into its army and navy because there has always been a shortage of British citizens willing to serve. Then there is the French Foreign Legion, which is supposed to be nothing but foreigners (except for the officers). But many French join, claiming to be from the French speaking parts of Belgium. No matter, if otherwise qualified the "Belgians" are signed up. In Italy, the Vatican (a small part of Rome that is an independent country controlled by the Roman Catholic Church) gets most of its security forces from Catholic areas of Switzerland. This is the Swiss Guard. While the French Foreign Legion dates from the 19th century, the Swiss have been serving as foreign mercenaries since the 15th century. But these contingents disappeared as better economic opportunities developed in Switzerland and mercenaries became less popular. Many other nations have successfully used foreigners in their armed forces. Not mercenaries but foreigners willing and able to serve next to the native born. It still works."

https://strategypage.com/htmw/htsf/articles/20180210.aspx

[AJT]

1. Anyone with extensive military experience have an opinion on this?

[EX500rider]

3. Seems to work well for the British Gurkas and the French Foreign Legion. n/t

[rickford66]

4. I remember numerous Filipinos in the Navy.

[cloudbase]

8. Back in the day, they were pretty much

restricted to being stewards. I would think that by now that has changed, but I don't know.

[rickford66]

2. Why not a simiar program for non-military occupations ?

[missingm]

5. Not sure if we need to import military trained individuals with almost certain PTSD

This iteration appears to be military only special forces types. We don't care for our own soldiers enough.

The most recent such program, the 2008 MAVNI (Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest) was looking for qualified non-citizens able to provide needed language or medical skills. Some 10,000 non-citizens were enlisted from 2009 until the program was put on hold in 2017. There were problems with the security screening. There were not enough qualified people to do it and it was believed foreign intel organizations were seeking to use MAVNI as a way to insert agents.

This sounds like it was shut down by Trump and his islamaphobic decrees. The new program will probably be open to non-gay people from predominantly white Christian countries. Book it.

[orangecrush]

6. interesting!

[Blue_true]

7. We have every tongue under the sun in this country.

Why not use our diversity and a little organization to use people that are already citizens?

The Marines can set up special units that know language and customs well. If a situation requires specific language and cultural skills, assign the people with those skills to the units dealing with the situation. When the problem is solved or stabilized, the troops can return to their base units.

[Kaleva]

9. The US Navy over a period of decades accepted 10s of thousands of Filipinos

This program lasted from 1901 till 1992 and was deemed very successful.

[dalton99a]

10. Hey, Shithole liked them in the parade:

[msongs]

11. balanced with a commensurate cut in forces not included in this fantasy? sounds romanesque, where

the roman army turned into a mostly mercenary force that effectively took over the empire

[EX500rider]

12. 3,000 troops hardly a drop in the bucket.

I could see the usefulness, no ones understands a culture like a native.

[onethatcares]

13. fuck all this military shit

let's make the leaders of the countries that want to war get into a steel cage match with Steve Austin doing the ringside announcing.

All the losers bow out and the winners keep getting the chance to die.

I'd rather have that than anything else.

Please excuse my language. I find the violence of war more obscene than words.