Yeah, that's what I'd want. A bunch of foriegn nationals volunteering to get their hands on weapons that would be used to wreak mayhem and destruction.

I think we witnessed what that scenario might be on 9-11.

Modern life is so technically complicated that disrupting it by anyone with an urge to do so and an understanding of the integration of its systems is a relatively simple affair. No military weapons are necessary. The security systems established by the government are so inadequate and resisted by threatened industries that it is a miracle that another 9/11 has not yet occurred. The original was accomplished with readily available commercial airliners. That method seems now blocked but there are many others wide open to anybody with nasty impulses.

In a way this might not be such a bad idea. Folks that really wanted to get in would know what was expected of them. Further, this would be a better screening process for immigrants which is not in place today. The military is a pretty structured organization. Hell, if you had misaligned folks, some sargents would probably be able to pick them out pretty quick and watch their actions to pin point where a bigger problem might be coming from. I think this idea has some merit worth exploring. Now for the problems, this can be preceived as "forced labor" and might not hold up under the judicail system's scurtiny. Secondly, you have a language barrier to over come. Many immigrant habla no english.

I'm inclined to agree with Hyenuf, but I'm also a benefactor of an immigrant who pursued military service. My father was a Navy officer, and no doubt his service helped my family quickly attain U.S. citizenship. There are plenty of non-combat roles available to earnest individuals, but certainty of character should be of great consideration. Nothing worse than taking in a would-be traitor.

This idea is not new, the French Foreign Legion is exactly this, a unit where non-french citizens can sign up and at the end of their service get citizenship. In the 1990's it attracted many people escaping the former Yugoslavia.
The advantage for the country forming the unit is that casualties attract much less publicity, they have no relatives to complain.

I tend to agree w/the writers political beliefs scale,except for the fact that i don't truly believe that anybody on the planet (or any other) would ever be able to honestly (thats a good politician word) claim that they actually completely fell into only one of the 10 catergories. for example: i think that there are many 2s and 3s out there (or so they think) but everyone of them also probably shares a couple of beliefs with say a 4 or 5 or even a 10.many people may claim to hold hard and fast to what they think they stand for--but there is always an exception to the definition of the number they claim to put themself under---ALWAYS! THAT IS WHY OUR COUNTRY IS SO GREAT, ONE DOES NOT HAVE TO PICK A NUMBER HE/SHE/IT CAN BE WHATEVER OR WHOEVER ONE WANTS!!! OF COURSE NOT W/O HAVING TO DEAL WITH THE STEREOTYPES,CLASS DISTINCTIONS,PERCEPTIONS, AND OF COURSE RACISM PREVALENT IN THIS COUNTRY.