FORT SILL — Fourteen new soldiers from a dozen countries became U.S. citizens in a naturalization ceremony before they graduated from Army basic training at Fort Sill on April 13.
The new Americans completed all of their citizenship requirements while also undergoing 10 weeks of basic training as members of D Battery, 1st Battalion, 31st Field Artillery. The ceremony was officiated by Bruce Paulin, Field Office Director, who administered the oath of citizenship.
According to Fort Sill’s Public Affairs, the recruits came from Jamaica, Cameroon, Tunisia, Togo, El Salvador, Cameroon, Vietnam, the Philippines, China, Zimbabwe, and the United Kingdom.
“We’ve had enlistees who were dentists and doctors in their home countries but came to the United States and became privates in the Army, in hopes of giving themselves and their families a chance for a better life and perhaps become doctors or dentists here,” said Keith Pannell, deputy director, Public Affairs, Fort Sill and Fires Center of Excellence.