“No One Left Behind” tries to rescue Iraqi and Afghan Terps | The American Legion’s BurnPit
Saw this on CNN the other day and it’s always been something that resonated with me, having had some pretty great interpreters in Afghanistan who risked everything to help us:In 2008, Matt Zeller was serving in Afghanistan as a captain in the US Army. One day while out on a routine mission, he and his squad were attacked by Taliban insurgents.
In 2008, Matt Zeller was serving in Afghanistan as a captain in the US Army. One day while out on a routine mission, he and his squad were attacked by Taliban insurgents.
Zeller would have been killed, he said, had it not been for his Afghan interpreter, Janis Shinwari.
“He shot and killed two Taliban fighters who were about to kill me,” Zeller said.
When Zeller thanked him for saving his life, Shinwari told him, “You are a guest in my country. It is an honor to protect those who are fighting for us.”
“That day we became brothers,” Zeller said.
After that, the Taliban placed Shinwari at the top of their hit list. Before Zeller returned home, he promised he would do everything he could to bring Shinwari and his family to safety in the US. It took Zeller more than four years to help them get their Special Immigrant Visas.
The interpreter and the soldier realized thousands like Shinwari remained vulnerable in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2013, they co-founded the nonprofit No One Left Behind to help other interpreters who’ve put their lives at risk to work with US troops.
You should click on over and watch the video of Matt at CNN in their Heroes segment linked above. Unfortunately I can’t embed that video here, but Matt has been on CNN before discussing it, and it is quite a compelling story:So far they are having some success according to figures they’ve released:
- Provided 161 families with rental assistance;
- Provided furnishings for 1,209 families in need;
- Provided 66 car grants to Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders;
- Helped 943 individuals with employments services;
- Advised more than 4,000 clients on the SIV process;
- More than 500 visas issued to clients we’ve assisted;
- Helped 8,329 individuals and 1,410 families overall.
Like I said, this one hits fairly close to home because of the danger I know most of them were in for helping us. At least when our deployments were over we could head home and see loved ones and not really worry overly that someone would kill them or take them hostage for what we were doing, but these Terps and others didn’t really have that option.
Check out the link above to CNN and if you want more on NOTB hit up their WEBSITE or TWITTER or FACEBOOK. They are Top 10 in CNN’s Hero Program thing, with the winning organization receiving $100k.
Source: “No One Left Behind” tries to rescue Iraqi and Afghan Terps | The American Legion’s BurnPit
Category: Military issues, Terror War
My terps were good dudes.
Two that I know of have been given entry to the US for their help and assistance.
Very worthy cause, and it’s a shame it takes so long to get the SIV.
One of my good friends from OCS was an Iraqi interpreter. Despite qualifying for SIV, he came over on a student visa and went to Harvard. Then he enlisted in the Marine Reserves, but later switched over to the guard, as he was too old for Marine OCS. Great guy. Last I heard he was up to some spooky shit with the state department.
People who give actual, selfless service like this to further the interests of the USA should move to the front of the line.
Call me cynical, but
I’m not expecting “comprehensive immigration reform” will not fix this glaring errorI do not expect “comprehensive immigration reform” will fix this glaring error. (or words to that effect)Oops. Double negative. It will not fix it.
I’d say that if anything, a reason for them to be here and having selfless service to provide us assistance would put them BEHIND illegal immigrants for some political types.
” to further the interests of the USA”
I thought we were there to help them. It’s their country, and their fight. As far as I can tell, we don’t have any interests there worth fighting for.
I was able to help get two of my interpreters back to the US as residents. A third, the brother of one that made it safely, was killed by militants in the years it took to get him approved.
It took years and was a lot harder than it should have been. I even had to threaten to go to the press when one of the packets was sent back again after repeated attempts to get it processed forward.
Even after the surviving brother was approved his immigration date was scheduled for after Trump took office and it was then postponed by the Trump administration for almost a year and a half. He just made it to the US last month.
All total it took 5 years from start to finish. Though my first interpreter only took 2 years.
It makes my blood boil when someone dismissively says they are not against immigrants as long as they came here legally. People do not understand how long it takes and how unlikely it is your application will even be processed much less approved even when you are being given special consideration.
Unless you are rich, then you can essentially just buy your way in.
Hell, I was not even able to get one of my soldier’s wives into the US before he deployed despite her being a military dependent.
Regalrdless on where you stand on immigrants we need to fix our immigration system. It is not working for anyone but the rich.
There you go again. See, there’s this topic. It’s not a grab bag, it’s a topic. You started out great, speaking to it, relating personal experience. And then you f’ed it all up with, “It makes my blood boil when someone dismissively says they are not against immigrants as long as they came here legally.” Why do you do shit like that?
The “slow visas for ‘Terps” problem dates back to the beginning of the war. Yet, you only bash Trump, not Obama who was pres for a major portion of the process for your particular friends.
Odd. Almost biased, yes?
And no, we do not need “comprehensive immigration reform”. We need to enforce the rules we have, -to the advantage of the USA-, and bar from entry those who won’t play by the rules.
Along the way we can fix quirks like ” slow Terps”. No, we don’t need amnesty for illegals.
You hijacked the Terp thread. You are now going to get your squiggly head handed to you
Again
It was not Obama that postponed already approved packets with scheduled immigration dates just do score political points with their base.
It was the Obama administration I threatened to go to the press against so I did not see them as not part of the problem.
And if I had explicitly criticized Obama I bet you would not feel compelled to call me out on it.
Admit it. You used your friend’s difficulty to partisan-bash. You only name-dropped Trump.
Note that I correctly identified this problem spanning all three presidents.
Actually, ask the folks who were trying to get our friends in Vietnam out. This goes back way further than the current mess.
Reading comprehension is key: “his immigration date was scheduled for after Trump took office and it was then postponed by the Trump administration for almost a year and a half.”
“All total it took 5 years from start to finish. Though my first interpreter only took 2 years.”
While she is not saying that it was a speedy process under Obama, it did get worse under Trump, in part thanks to that idiotic blanket ban on immigration from certain countries. That those countries might also contain terps, who often risked their lives or died to help us, must have slipped his mind.
Meanwhile, she does make a valid point about the unfairness of the EB-5 immigration program, which essentially lets rich foreigners buy up our real estate and gives them a green card for their troubles. Somehow it doesn’t take them 5 years to get their visas. Weird.
People were fighting hard to get Terps through the system since the current mess started
Never heard anyone say it worked well, or quickly, or consistently.
Squiggy threw it all away with “comprehensive” Yada Yada. It means amnesty now, no border enforcement, and we can talk another amnesty after we pile up more illegals.
Not buying that BS. Anyone who uses that phrase as an advocacy point is selling BS.
No.
“who often risked their lives or died to help us”
Silly me, I always thought they were fighting for *their* country, just like we are fighting to help *their* country. They owe us, we don’t owe them.
Do you get some sort of virtual sexual gratification out of coming here and shitting on yourself publicly? You actually made some good points, which you then flushed in the same paragraph.
So this like a wedge issue for you. Got it.
Sorry, dude, but my wife and in-laws are legal immigrants and naturalized citizens. What’s more, they came as refugees from an actual genocide. And they didn’t have two nickels to rub together. I know how the process goes. And guess what: I’m perfectly fine with LEGAL immigrants and not okay with illegal ones. My wife and her family share that opinion.
The system has plenty of room for improvement, but if you truly care about your former interpreters, you should be able to see how they are pissed on by every illegal alien who breaks the rules and demands a free pass. Instead you seem more interested in using it as an excuse to clamor about “the rich” (how ‘bout all those democrats who become millionaires after taking office, eh?).
So boil all the sanctimonious blood you want over it, you will receive zero given fucks.
Legal immigrants are always the biggest anti-illegal immigration people. Probably because they had to work for it and follow the rules, then get to watch people who broke all the rules and laws get “amnesty”. It’d piss me off too.
Absolutely! I’m friends with a number of legal immigrants and EVERY ONE of them are staunchly anti-illegal immigration,
One of my former Soldiers had to spend somewhere around 20 grand to finally get his wife legal immigrant status, citizenship, etc.
So, yeah, I imagine that the cost they’ve all had to deal with in time, money, paperwork, waiting, etc., was a lot to give up. Then, seeing someone come here and “Bam!” gets it a golden ticket for free just because dirtbag politicans want to make it a campaign issue…..
If anything, I’d blame it on State Department bureaucrats who take their sweet ass time on everything if it doesn’t benefit them personally.
No matter how much a President wants something to happen fast, there are a huge cesspool of bureaucrats who will do things at their own speed with the least amount of effort possible.
Even if there is only one bureaucrat for every ten people in government who is a deliberate, lazy, apathetic dirtbag, that still causes more red tape and bureaucracy slowdown than any of these people deserve.
Blame it on the clintons, the bushes, soros, NWO, etc who all want illegals here so they can vote dumocrap! imo
Presidents come and go, but the bureaucracy is eternal.
“It makes my blood boil when someone dismissively…”
Boil away. “Dismissively”? Maybe. I do understand how long it takes but I don’t care; we don’t owe them anything. Do I have the right to come live in your house because it’s nicer than mine?
“It is not working for anyone but the rich.”
What is your idea of working? Open borders? Lack of enforcement of the laws we have is the only serious problem.
We should take care of the ones that helped us. Libs fall all over themselves to let in thousands that have done nothing to help us or themselves. How many lib’s heads would start ‘sloping if we started bringing in the terps that had helped us, appreciate what the USA did for them, became citizens and voted a conservative ticket. How many loyal allies did we leave in SEA? Flip side, how many Nazi/Collaborators did we allow in or allow to sneak out to SA after WWII?. The troops that have served in the ME had the same problem as the troops in SEA. Sometimes it was hard to tell the sheep from the goats.
Why is this not a priority from the get-go?
Set aside the “humanitarian” concern for a moment, there are solid PRACTICAL reasons for putting interpreters at the head of the immigration line: If we don’t take care of the interpreters who put their lives on the line for our soldiers, who in their right mind would WANT to be an interpreter next time we go into one of these countries?
“Why is this not a priority from the get-go?”
THIS.
Please see my cmt at 5:38 pm below for some explanation.
Who in their right mind would want to send soldiers into a country whose citizens are not willing to fight for themselves, alongside those who risk their lives to help them?
Of the six Terps on our team in 2007 to 2008 none still live in Iraq five immigrated to the United States and one went to India. Two went on to serve in the US Army. Most were Chaldean so they could not stay anyway. All lives in areas that were taken by ISIS later so if they had stayed they would likely all be dead now.
The immigration line is a long one. Despite the horror that living here is made out to be, millions want in. Go figure. I guess they don’t watch CNN and MSNBC. Nationals from Afghanistan and Iraq who served as translators and interpreters are eligible for a special immigrant visa. (The jerk will be surprised to learn that indigence will not be a bar, by law.) If there’s a catch, it’s that the numbers are capped but, more importantly, the individual must otherwise be admissible. That is, having been a translator or interpreter is not alone sufficient if the individual is, say, a felon or is carrying some disease. Also, the foreign national must have worked as a translator or interpreter for US forces for at least a year. The bottom line is that there is not and will not be a there today and here tomorrow time line.
So, the Jerk has five people come to his door. All but one are poor. They want to live in his home. He says, “Well, hold on. I want to help but you are expecting me to house you and feed you. You want to use my water and electricity, presumably my soap and other stuff. Says one, “Not me. I will pay.” What does the jerk do? I can guess based on his cmt above: “You, senor, are not welcome. You others? Come on in!”
Winner!!
Thank you
I used to keep in contact with one of my old terps via email. When ISIS took Mosul he went silent. I pray that he escaped back into Kurdistan.
A comrade on my left, a comrade on my right, and a clip of ammunition for me little Armalite!
If we are mark’d to die, we are enough To do our country loss; and if to live, The fewer men, the greater share of honour. God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more. By Jove, I am not covetous for gold, Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost; It yearns me not if men my garments wear; Such outward things dwell not in my desires. But if it be a sin to covet honour, I am the most offending soul alive. No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England. God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour As one man more methinks would share from me For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more! Rather proclaim it, Westmorland, through my host, That he which hath no stomach to this fight, Let him depart; his passport shall be made, And crowns for convoy put into his purse; We would not die in that man’s company That fears his fellowship to die with us. This day is call’d the feast of Crispian. He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d, And rouse him at the name of Crispian. He that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, And say “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.” Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, And say “These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.” Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, But he’ll remember, with advantages, What feats he did that day. Then shall our names, Familiar in his mouth as household words— Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester— Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red. This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be rememberèd— We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with… Read more »