Guys, this might a good opportunity. I think all Nepali with the qualifications should give it a try. Come on, Nepali doctors and nurses.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081205/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/military_recruiting
WASHINGTON – Struggling to find enough doctors, nurses and linguists for the war effort, the Pentagon
will temporarily recruit foreigners who have been living in the United
States on student and work visas, or with refugee or political asylum
status.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates
has authorized the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps to recruit
certain legal residents whose critical medical and language skills are
"vital to the national interest," officials said, using for the first
time a law passed three years ago.
Though the military previously has taken recruits with green cards
seeking permanent residency, Gates' action enables the services to
start a one-year pilot program to find up to 1,000 foreigners who have
lived in the states legally for at least two years on certain types of
temporary visas.
The new recruits into
the armed forces would get accelerated treatment in the process toward
becoming U.S. citizens in return for serving in the wartime military in
the United States or abroad.
"The
services are doing a tremendous job of recruiting quality personnel to
meet our various missions," sometimes with bonus pay and tuition for
medical school, said Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for
military personnel policy. But they haven't been able to fill their
need for 24,000 doctors, dentists and nurses in the Defense Department.
The
Pentagon's doctor and nurse corps remain 1,000 short of the numbers
needed to treat patients, and Carr said he hoped the program would fill
the gaps.
The military's most pressing need is for neurosurgeons and dermatologists to treat troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with brain and burn injuries caused by insurgents' wide use of roadside bombs and suicide bombs.
The force also lacks nurses with a broad range of specialties, Carr said.
It also needs people with special language and cultural skills for a war on terrorism that has taken the armed forces across the globe.
Though
the military has been looking for more Arabic speakers and others to
help with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the new program looks to
recruit speakers of some three dozen languages, including Albanian, Korean, Punjabi, Somali and Turkish.
The
effort to find the recruits begins early next year. If there is a need
for more recruits in the future, it would take a new authorization,
Carr said.
Of the 1,000 new people, at least a third must be medical professionals, Carr said.
"It is exceptional, limited, vital," he said of the effort.
The linguists are to be used in a broad range of military jobs — as infantrymen, seamen and military police. Those with the best language skills would be used in intelligence fields.
The armed forces have used foreigners since the War of 1812 — over the years some 700,000 have served.
But because of the counterterrorism war begun after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America, President George W. Bush signed an executive order in 2002 making foreigners who join the military eligible to apply immediately for citizenship.
They
essentially go to the head of the line among citizenship applicants,
having their cases processed in about three years as opposed to the
five years it takes others, Carr said.
There are now 29,000 non-citizens in uniform today, Carr said, with about 8,000 more enlisting every year.
He expects that among those who will be interested in the new effort
are doctors with work visas who are working at hospitals around the
country, a program aimed at tackling shortages among U.S. medical
professionals.
The military has never recruited non-green card holders, but a
law passed three years ago lets them do so when it is determined to be
vital to the national interest.
On Nov. 25, Gates declared that to be the case for the purpose of getting more doctors, nurses and linguists.
Carr stressed that recruits will have to pass the same physical, mental and aptitude tests required of all who join the armed forces.
Health care workers
also will have to meet all medical professional criteria to practice,
be proficient in English, and agree to enlist either for three years on
active duty or six years as reservists.
The linguists/culture experts will have to enlist for four years of active duty service.
___
On the Net:
Defense Department http://www.defenselink.mil
