US Army Looking for a Few Good Ugandans
by Ian Mosley
It is generally recognized by historians that one of the reasons ancient Rome fell was because Roman citizens became too weak, effete and selfish to serve in their own armed forces. Increasingly they recruited soldiers from frontier provinces with only marginal loyalty to Rome. Well, the American Empire has carried this to an extreme.
According to the Nation newspaper in Nairobi, Kenya, the United States is now openly recruiting soldiers in Uganda, Idi Amin’s old stomping grounds. A recent news article reports “Ugandans who want a career in the United States military, can sign up at the annual convention of the Uganda North American Association, organisers say. American military recruiters will set up a booth at this year’s UNAA convention in Orlando, Florida, and seek out professional Ugandans, said Lt. Frank Musisi, himself an officer in the US Army. Lt. Musisi, who comes from Kalangala District on Lake Victoria, is the current president of UNAA. He said the US military would also advise Ugandans on the “proper channels” to follow in enlisting. The announcement, which is also on the UNAA website (www.unaa.net), is set to cause a rush to this year’s convention that takes place from August 29 to September 1.”
The Nation article goes on: “UNAA is encouraging interested Ugandans to book flights to Orlando and take a shot at joining the US military. The organisation says it has made a deal with Kenya Airways/KLM for a discounted return ticket at $1,200 (Sh74,400). The conference fee is $190 (Sh11,700). ‘All registered Kampala travel agents have been authorised to book intending members,’ Lt. Musisi said in an email interview. The tour firm Let’s Go Travel confirmed to Saturday Monitor that UNAA had circulated a notice of the discounts. Applicants are being asked to carry their curriculum vitae (CV) suggesting that the recruitment exercise will be a main attraction at the convention.”
The Nation concludes: “Public interest in jobs abroad in Uganda is intense. Recruitment and job placement companies which advertise are often flooded with thousands of applications.”
If I were forced to live in Uganda I’d probably do pretty much anything to get out of there myself.
In view of the fact that Uganda has just come through about 30 years of civil war, since the overthrow of Idi Amin, I can see why the desperate U.S. military might target Ugandans as potential mercenaries. Very few Americans are signing up anymore. (Do the poor Ugandan bastards realize they’re just going to be given six weeks of basic training and then loaded onto a plane to Iraq, I wonder?)
Of course, that begs the question of what the U. S. Army is doing actively recruiting foreigners anyway, but then in view of the fact that the recruiting environment was recently described in the media as “the worst in 25 years,” and in view of the fact that entrance requirements for Americans to join have been so lowered that criminals are now reporting directly to basic training from their parole hearings and basic training courses now include basic literacy courses so the more mentally-challenged recruits can read the labels on their equipment and common road signs, maybe that’s not such a strange question after all.
Imperial Rome never recruited soldiers from an ocean away, but the United States is going to extremes that no Roman Emperor had ever thought of.