Servicemembers receive 'Outstanding Americans by Choice' award Published Oct. 2, 2007 By Fred W. Baker III American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- Four Airmen, a Soldier and Coast Guard member each received an "Outstanding American by Choice" award from the chief of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during a ceremony Sept. 30 in Washington. The award recognizes naturalized citizens who have demonstrated a commitment to the country through civic participation, professional achievement and responsible citizenship. The servicemembers joined congressmen, doctors, professors and other eminent naturalized citizens who received the award at Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, the birthplace of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Emilio T. Gonzalez, the director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services presented the awards in conjunction with a naturalization ceremony for 17 servicemembers and a family member. Those taking the oath of allegiance represented Cameroon, Czechoslovakia, Germany, India, Jamaica, Panama, Philippines, Portugal, Somalia and Trinidad. Today's recipients embody the Outstanding American by Choice award through their commitment to the principles on which the nation was founded, said Mr. Gonzalez, a naturalized citizen and a 26-year military veteran. "The outstanding Americans here today made a choice to become citizens and they deserve our respect for that act alone, but they've also made a decision to give back to their nation through military service, putting their lives on the line, sacrificing their blood, sweat and tears, and for this they've earned our gratitude," he said. There are 45,000 non-citizen immigrants now serving in the U.S. military, and hundreds of thousands have served throughout the country's history, Mr. Gonzalez said. He noted that James McHenry, the third U.S. Secretary of War and the namesake of this harbor-side fort, was an Irish immigrant. Also noteworthy, Mr. Gonzalez said, was that during the War of 1812 when artillery barrages from this fort held the harbor against attack by the British navy -- the battle that inspired the penning of the national anthem -- a quarter of the forces manning the guns were immigrants. By the 1840s almost half the U.S. military recruits were immigrants, many enlisting "right off the boat," that brought them to America, he said. U.S. military service helps immigrants appreciate the constitutional guarantees and makes it easier to integrate, Mr. Gonzalez said. "It is quickly understood that those immigrants who volunteer to serve in our armed forces are more easily integrated into our nation, foster a greater attachment to our national and political institutions and are transformed into committed and loyal Americans who voluntarily accept the obligations and responsibilities of citizenship," he said. The Air Force recipients are: Maj. Manuel Dominguez was born in Havana. His mother escaped communist Cuba with him when he was 2-weeks old. His father was forced to stay behind and was subsequently detained in Cuba and eventually died there. Major Dominguez was raised in Miami and enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1986. He said he felt the need to repay his country for the opportunities given him and his family, and wanted to lead the family forward, he said. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1988. Four years after enlisting, he earned a bachelor's degree in business administration. He was the first in his family to attend college. While serving, he was recognized as being in the top 1 percent of enlisted Marines, and was offered an assignment as aide to Army Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf at U.S. Central Command, in Tampa. He later deployed to Iraq with the general during operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. General Schwarzkopf awarded him the Joint Service Commendation Medal for his wartime service. After the war, he earned a master's degree in business administration while attending courses at night. Major Dominguez eventually left active-duty service and continued his studies and earned a doctorate in computer technology in 2000. In January 2005, Major Dominguez returned to active duty in the Air Force and was assigned as the Information Technology Flight commander, to the 2nd Medical Group, at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., where he implemented the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application, the Defense Department's Web-based, health information system and made the hospital the first in the Air Force to transition all providers to tablet PC technology, and was subsequently nominated for the Surgeon General's Chief Information Officer of the Year Award. He is now the chief of expeditionary systems, where he manages a multi-million dollar project, and is the first project manager to roll out an electronic healthrecord to the theater of combat. Capt. Rasul Alsalih serves on active duty in his former homeland of Iraq, where he is responsible for the design, cost estimate, contract award and construction inspection of more than $14 million directly supporting the Army mission in Operation Iraqi Freedom. After the defeat of the former Iraqi army and the liberation of Kuwait in the first Gulf War, Captain Alsalih fled to the southern border of Iraq. He was separated from his wife and child in the chaos caused by heavy artillery in his town. At the border, he was taken into a camp in northern Saudi Arabia and provided food, water and medical treatment by American soldiers. After five days in the camp, he was reunited with his family there. The family lived in the camp from March 1991 until September 1992, where he volunteered as a translator. It was during this interaction he developed a deep respect and admiration for the U.S. Soldiers and their willingness to help the defenseless masses forced from their country, he said. He noted the kindness of the soldiers especially to the children and elderly and fostered his wish "to become one of these strong-willed, dedicated, kind soldiers." In August 1992, the Alsalih family was selected to relocate to the United States. They arrived in the United States on Sept. 24, 1992. Captain Alsalih and his wife became naturalized citizens of the United States in 1997. He earned his master's degree in systems engineering in 2000. In September 2000, he was commissioned as a biomedical sciences corps officer. As a first lieutenant, he was transferred to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., where he developed the Immersion and Joint Training Exercises and the "Iraqi Language Kit" pocket-guide field manual used by hundreds of thousands of troops deploying to the region. His current deployment to Iraq is his second assignment to his former home, and his third supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 2003 he served as the operations officer for linguist operations at the detainment facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In 2004, Captain Alsalih returned to Iraq to serve as a liaison officer for the Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraqi government. Capt. Van T. Thai is a mobility instructor pilot assigned to the 18th Operations Support Squadron, at Kadena Air Base, Japan. Captain Thai and his family became naturalized U.S. citizens in 1990, after immigrating from Vietnam in 1983. He graduated in the top 25 percent of his class at the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1998 and was selected to study national security issues and French in the Air Force Institute of Technology program at the University of Colorado. Captain Thai entered undergraduate pilot training and garnered both its "Hard Charger" and "Flight Commander's" awards. After completing pilot training, he was assigned to the 909th Air Refueling Squadron at Kadena AB. He deployed for Operation Enduring Freedom, where he executed presidential directed missions, earning an Aerial Achievement Medal for skillful flying in a hostile environment. He was later selected as one of the first U.S. servicemembers to aerial refuel Japanese F-15s. He was also selected for two Pentagon language-immersion programs in Tunisia and Vietnam. Captain Thai has also been active in the communities where he has served, working as the "nerve center" chairman for the 2006 and 2007 Kadena Special Olympics, Japan's largest Special Olympics. He taught English to local preschool students and Japanese military members deploying in support of operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. He has mentored more than 200 United States and Japanese cadets, junior high and high school students, and young Airmen on leadership, military life, and the aviation career field. Captain Thai earned his master's degree in economics and is working on his second master's in international relations. He has also completed the Marine Corps Command and Staff College and is working on his Air Command and Staff College course, both by correspondence. Tech. Sgt. Oluwasina Awolusi is a pharmacy craftsman assigned to the 42nd Medical Support Squadron at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. He was born in Lagos State, Nigeria, in 1979, and attended school there before his parents moved to the United States. Sergeant Awolusi entered the Air Force in October 1997 and became a citizen of the United States in February 2002 while stationed at Hurlburt Field, Fla. While there, Sergeant Awolusi received the Hurlburt Field Chief's Group Sharp Award in November 1998; the 16th Medical Support Squadron Airman of the Quarter in 1998; the Pharmacy Airman of the Year in 2000, and other honors. He also served for two years as a member of the base honor guard and its precision drill team. Sergeant Awolusi is also an active volunteer, involved in the local Habitat for Humanity, Veterans of Foreign Wars events, and Airmen Against Drunk Driving. An avid soccer player, he coached and played on the two-time base champs medical group soccer team and the base soccer team. Sergeant Awolusi was deployed to Kuwait in 2002 as a flight leader of operations. He provided base security at more than 10 construction sites, accounting for all third-country nationals working on the installations. He was also deployed to Southwest Asia, where he was the NCO in charge of pharmacy operations providing pharmaceutical care for an international base population of more than 5,000. While stationed at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, Sergeant Awolusi was the vault custodian and supply technician accounting for more than 400 line items and maintaining a budget of $10 million. He was named January 2005 Pharmacy Outstanding Performer and NCO of the Year. While there he again volunteered for community programs such as the Food Bank of Alaska, Special Olympics, and the Annual Heart Walk. Comment on this story (comments may be published on Air Force Link) View the comments/letters page