I can’t help but think that there is more to this story:
Spc. Yea Ji Sea, has served four years in the U.S. Army. She filed a lawsuit Thursday, July 19, 2018, asking for a response to her American citizenship application after the military moved to discharge her.
A U.S. Army specialist born in South Korea has sued asking for a response to her American citizenship application after the military moved to discharge her.
Yea Ji Sea, a 29-year-old from Gardena, California, who has served four years and is assigned to the duty station at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, filed a lawsuit Thursday in federal court.
She came to the country as a child on a visitor visa and held other visas before enlisting in 2013 under a special government program for foreign citizens who want to serve in the U.S. military. Under the program, recruits agreed in their enlistment contracts to apply to naturalize as soon as their honorable service was certified. [Associated Press]
You can read more at the link, but the article states she had a forged document from a defunct language school that caused her first application to be revoked causing her to reapply in 2016. It is hard and time consuming to get citizenship without the drama of forged documents.
My question is why the Army moving to discharge her? I assume honorable service means an honorable discharge so the nature of her discharge is I suppose the hinge.
J6Junkie
6 years ago
The Army is discharging a lot of foreign nationals under the expedited citizenship program. That forged transcript probably doesn’t help her case either.
setnaffa
6 years ago
Forgery and perjury are not the same as honorable service.
She should be satisfied with not getting a DD and immediately deported.
johnhenry
6 years ago
“Expedited Citizenship Program” is actually a different program. The ECP is one to naturalize immediate family members of US federal employees (including members of the seven uniformed services as federal employees) who take assignments overseas. The program the Specialist enlisted under, Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI), doesn’t expedite anything really.
The linked story said that she was unaware that the language school generated a fraudulent document.
AppeasingNorthKorea
6 years ago
She looks like an African American. Is she really Korean?
ChickenHead
6 years ago
“The linked story said that she was unaware that the language school generated a fraudulent document.”
Poor thing. She didn’t realize the English school issuing her student visa that she never actually attended because they didn’t have actual classes was a fradulent pay-to-stay operation.
She didn’t notice the $300/month tuition didn’t include anything but a student visa.
Hopefully her time in the military gave her better situational awareness and financial planning skills.
Bonus: Johnhenry yet again comes in on the side of stupid.
johnhenry
6 years ago
Really, CH, is it even possible to be more of a bigot than you?
ChickenHead
6 years ago
Sorry, johnhenry. I have been fully immune to namecalling since around 5th grade.
If you have criticism if me, I will certainly consider it. A logical and well-expressed explanation of your ideas about me will go much farther than emotional platitudes devoid of supporting facts and lazy name-calling with the most worn-out faddish lables available.
You might also consider the true meaning of bigot… opinion without knowledge.
All of my opinions are based on knowledge.
My opinions can certainly change if the facts change or there is a better analysis of them. Yelling bigot and declaring victory does not change any facts or analysis.
In fact, it hardens my opinion… as I suspect there are no other facts or superior interpretation.
If you have anything of actual value to contribute, please do so.
Like I said above, I believe there is more to this story that SPC Sea is not telling the AP or the AP knows, but would not fit the narrative the media has been pushing of immigrant veterans getting pushed out of the service.
Simple facts like did she actually attend the language school or did she just pay for a document seem like information that should have been included in the article. Also at any point did she have illegal immigrant status? The article says she came into the US on a tourist visa. Did she overstay her visa? These are all violations that will not help a citizenship application.
ChickenHead
6 years ago
GI, the sad thing is, at each step, she made the best choice.
At one point, the best choice was paying money to get a legal visa. Sure, she knew it was a scam on America… but it was a legal visa.
Later, the best choice was fibbing about it and assuming it was resolved… as she did nothing really illegal.
The real question is if she was a good soldier.
She could have been entitled and demanding and this was a perfect chance to get rid of her.
…or maybe she was really good at her profession but she is a victim of arbitrary military thinking.
The military thinking process isn’t really more trustworthy than shifty semi-legal immigrants.
So who knows.
It would be nice if everything always works out for the best.
ChickenHead
6 years ago
I see Johnhenry is a bit of a wuss.
He like to call the big boys names and then hide behind his mother’s skirt as soon as they step onto the playground.
We have seen this type here before. It is easy to ridicule them into tears. They have nothing intelligent to say and nothing useful to contribute.
…except as a target of ridicule.
Last chance, Johnhenry? Don’t you want to logically express your well-thought out ideas to change the minds of some “bigots” with new facts and reasonable analysis?
“As Spc. Sea’s current supervisor has written in a character statement: ‘She claims this country, the only country that she (has) known for the majority of her life. She is doing something that only one percent of the population … has done and is continuing doing; fighting for a country that she is willing to (d)ie for…”
and
“Another supervisor said she ‘has the drive and professionalism needed to bring the U.S. Army to new heights. She represents the best the Army has to offer: a smart, agile young leader capable of handling immense challenges with marked success.’”
Considering she was the only pharmacist up at Camp Casey, does anyone here know her? She came in after I left, so I wouldn’t have met her as I picked up my meds, but I know a lot of ROK Heads are living in South Korea and have access to the base.
She had a variety of postings during her time in the Army. While stationed in South Korea, Sea served as an ambulance aid driver and was the only pharmacy technician for the entire Camp Casey Combined Troop Station that served more than 1,800 soldiers, according to the ACLU. In her off hours, she served as a translator for doctors and helped care for injured soldiers.
Most recently while serving at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, Sea earned two Army Achievement Medals “for exceptionally meritorious service,” according to the lawsuit.
And of course it doesn’t help that the branches also tend to give out “nothing-burger” awards, which dilute personnel truly earning a medal.
I’m hoping she gets a fair shake.
setnaffa
6 years ago
While I was in the the Air Force, I stood nuclear alerts every third week, flew 11+ hour training flights in aircraft older than me, picked up other people’s cigarette butts, got hectored about how air-sickness was just a motivational problem, and lived off base because my squadron had no barracks. I qualified for the sharpshooter ribbon but my 1SGT hated paperwork, so that never happened. There was only the Cold War, so I never even got the National Defense Service Medal. I went overseas to an airshow in England; but most of the time we basically stayed glued to our base.
Granted, I was no Audie Murphy; but my shadowbox would look pretty darn empty except for my stripes, my squadron patch, my gunner patch, my nametag, my wings, and my Combat Crew pin. No medals. Zero. Zip. Nada.
It’s one of the reasons I stand up when combat vets enter the room.
It’s also the reason I have no sympathy for people who forge or use forged documents while in uniform.
setnaffa
6 years ago
Forgot to add, I did not receive extra pay for living off base. (insert sad violin music here)
My question is why the Army moving to discharge her? I assume honorable service means an honorable discharge so the nature of her discharge is I suppose the hinge.
The Army is discharging a lot of foreign nationals under the expedited citizenship program. That forged transcript probably doesn’t help her case either.
Forgery and perjury are not the same as honorable service.
She should be satisfied with not getting a DD and immediately deported.
“Expedited Citizenship Program” is actually a different program. The ECP is one to naturalize immediate family members of US federal employees (including members of the seven uniformed services as federal employees) who take assignments overseas. The program the Specialist enlisted under, Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI), doesn’t expedite anything really.
The linked story said that she was unaware that the language school generated a fraudulent document.
She looks like an African American. Is she really Korean?
“The linked story said that she was unaware that the language school generated a fraudulent document.”
Poor thing. She didn’t realize the English school issuing her student visa that she never actually attended because they didn’t have actual classes was a fradulent pay-to-stay operation.
She didn’t notice the $300/month tuition didn’t include anything but a student visa.
Hopefully her time in the military gave her better situational awareness and financial planning skills.
Bonus: Johnhenry yet again comes in on the side of stupid.
Really, CH, is it even possible to be more of a bigot than you?
Sorry, johnhenry. I have been fully immune to namecalling since around 5th grade.
If you have criticism if me, I will certainly consider it. A logical and well-expressed explanation of your ideas about me will go much farther than emotional platitudes devoid of supporting facts and lazy name-calling with the most worn-out faddish lables available.
You might also consider the true meaning of bigot… opinion without knowledge.
All of my opinions are based on knowledge.
My opinions can certainly change if the facts change or there is a better analysis of them. Yelling bigot and declaring victory does not change any facts or analysis.
In fact, it hardens my opinion… as I suspect there are no other facts or superior interpretation.
If you have anything of actual value to contribute, please do so.
Like I said above, I believe there is more to this story that SPC Sea is not telling the AP or the AP knows, but would not fit the narrative the media has been pushing of immigrant veterans getting pushed out of the service.
Simple facts like did she actually attend the language school or did she just pay for a document seem like information that should have been included in the article. Also at any point did she have illegal immigrant status? The article says she came into the US on a tourist visa. Did she overstay her visa? These are all violations that will not help a citizenship application.
GI, the sad thing is, at each step, she made the best choice.
At one point, the best choice was paying money to get a legal visa. Sure, she knew it was a scam on America… but it was a legal visa.
Later, the best choice was fibbing about it and assuming it was resolved… as she did nothing really illegal.
The real question is if she was a good soldier.
She could have been entitled and demanding and this was a perfect chance to get rid of her.
…or maybe she was really good at her profession but she is a victim of arbitrary military thinking.
The military thinking process isn’t really more trustworthy than shifty semi-legal immigrants.
So who knows.
It would be nice if everything always works out for the best.
I see Johnhenry is a bit of a wuss.
He like to call the big boys names and then hide behind his mother’s skirt as soon as they step onto the playground.
We have seen this type here before. It is easy to ridicule them into tears. They have nothing intelligent to say and nothing useful to contribute.
…except as a target of ridicule.
Last chance, Johnhenry? Don’t you want to logically express your well-thought out ideas to change the minds of some “bigots” with new facts and reasonable analysis?
You can never tell with the media, especially when they’re trying to push an agenda. But her chain of command seems to support her in their written statements.
https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Immigrant-GI-at-Fort-Sam-forced-out-of-Army-13090234.php
and
Considering she was the only pharmacist up at Camp Casey, does anyone here know her? She came in after I left, so I wouldn’t have met her as I picked up my meds, but I know a lot of ROK Heads are living in South Korea and have access to the base.
So many of the cases the media presents are: “Veteran unfairly kicked out of the military!” tend to leave out little details like: “Sgt So-and-so was busted for meth smuggling” before he was discharged. Her CoC doesn’t seem like they are trying to get rid of an entitled troublemaker.
https://mynewsla.com/crime/2018/07/20/aclu-sues-in-l-a-to-obtain-citizenship-for-soldier-discharged-by-army/
And of course it doesn’t help that the branches also tend to give out “nothing-burger” awards, which dilute personnel truly earning a medal.
I’m hoping she gets a fair shake.
While I was in the the Air Force, I stood nuclear alerts every third week, flew 11+ hour training flights in aircraft older than me, picked up other people’s cigarette butts, got hectored about how air-sickness was just a motivational problem, and lived off base because my squadron had no barracks. I qualified for the sharpshooter ribbon but my 1SGT hated paperwork, so that never happened. There was only the Cold War, so I never even got the National Defense Service Medal. I went overseas to an airshow in England; but most of the time we basically stayed glued to our base.
Granted, I was no Audie Murphy; but my shadowbox would look pretty darn empty except for my stripes, my squadron patch, my gunner patch, my nametag, my wings, and my Combat Crew pin. No medals. Zero. Zip. Nada.
It’s one of the reasons I stand up when combat vets enter the room.
It’s also the reason I have no sympathy for people who forge or use forged documents while in uniform.
Forgot to add, I did not receive extra pay for living off base. (insert sad violin music here)