Photo By Sgt. Cassandra Monroe | Sameh Youssef is the senior analyst and cultural advisor for United States Division...... read more read more
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CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Iraq – Constitution Day, Sept. 17, often goes unrecognized but the freedoms it brings to U.S. citizens are never forgotten and are desired by many. This week, two Task Force Marne naturalized citizens reflect on their journey toward U.S. citizenship and what brought them back to the Middle East to help rebuild Iraq.
Sameh Youssef, the senior analyst and cultural advisor to U.S. Division-North, first decided he wanted to move to the U.S. after graduating college and completing mandatory military service in his original country of Alexandria, Egypt.
“Our country was going through a bad time economically, so I decided to find myself a new home,” he said. “I looked for an opportunity to have a future so I decided to come to the United States.”
Youssef became a citizen of the United States shortly after, lived in Clearwater, Fla., and owned an electronic security business, until he felt a higher calling to do something more.
“At that time in my life, I needed to have a change,” said Youssef. “I needed to do something different. I had my own business, but I was tired of it, and needed to do something unique.”
It was after Sept. 11, 2001, when Youssef looked at the current situation of the country and wanted to help in any way he could. Then, he heard about an opportunity to work for the government in Iraq as a translator.
“I decided to give it a shot and come over here [Iraq],” said Youssef. “I’ve been here since 2004, at the same base.”
As the commanding general’s cultural advisor, Youssef gives him guidance on how to communicate with Iraqis based on their traditions and background.
“I try to be an influential part in [the decision] making,” said Youssef.
He added that being an essential member of USD-N has been a worthwhile cause because he has been able to see the way the country of Iraq has grown over the last six years he has worked here.
“I think that the country has grown dramatically,” said Youssef. “When I first came here, the Iraqi Army only had about two Iraqi battalions in the whole USD-N area of operations. Right now, we have many divisions, plus very good Iraqi police forces. We’re working very hard to assist our Iraqi partners to give them primacy to give them control in the cities and give them the opportunity to go outside and do Army work.”
He also finds the partnership between the U.S. and Iraqi soldiers inspiring.
“I see the hard work that our soldiers have done with our Iraqi partners,” he said. “It’s tremendous and it’s refreshing. If I leave right now, I feel like I have participated and done something small to help [the U.S.] in the long run to help the Iraqi people to become a prosperous country.”
Another critical member of Task Force Marne, Angel Hermiz, contributes her skills as a linguist to the USD-N command team, specifically for the USD-N Commanding General, Maj. Gen. Tony Cucolo, and also believes that her time spent advising American soldiers has been beneficial.
“Knowing the culture very well is what motivated me mostly to do the job, because I felt like I could be a great help to all of the soldiers,” said Hermiz. “When I would watch the television from 2003 to 2007, I heard many negative things, and most of it was related to mistranslation, or misadvised cultural issues. I felt like I could help with advising and I feel like I speak good English and Arabic. I feel like I do my best in both advising in the culture and the language.”
Hermiz is a Clinton Township, Mich., native, but is originally from Kirkuk, Iraq. She and her family spent some time in Baghdad before making the decision to finally move to the United States.
“My family and I came to the states in 1992,” she said. “We lived in two wars growing up in Iraq, one between Iran and Iraq, and the other being the first Gulf War. The economic sanctions affected my parents and their savings, so we pretty much lost everything. We had a great opportunity to leave Iraq and start somewhere else. So we made it to the U.S. and have been in Michigan since.”
Hermiz worked many jobs at the beginning of her stay in the States, due to the language barrier. She went to college to learn more about English, and landed a job at a civil engineering firm as an administrative assistant before becoming a linguist. The job of a linguist was being advertised everywhere, especially because there is a high number of Muslim communities in Michigan. When Hermiz saw the ads on television and in grocery stores, she knew she knew what she wanted tod do.
“When my firm started downsizing, unfortunately, I lost my job, so I was unemployed,” Hermiz said. “At first, I took this job for a financial reason. The pay was good and I speak both languages, but when I got here in Iraq, it was totally different. I look at it as a great mission, and I am proud to be here. As a linguist, the kinds of jobs we do are key leader engagements with the high-level personnel in Iraq, like high commanding generals.”
For Hermiz, the time she has spent and lived in country since beginning her job in 2008 has been enough to notice positive differences within the country and people of Iraq.
“I’ve noticed good things happening in Iraq since I was last here,” said Hermiz. “When I was living here, it was during Saddam’s regime. The people of Iraq didn’t have that much freedom of speech, becoming who they want to be. Everything back then was in the name of the government. Right now, I see the people becoming more and more like themselves.”
For Hermiz and Youssef, both find the greatest value in their jobs through their services to Task Force Marne.
“My favorite thing about my job is that I am able to help,” said Youssef. “I try to bring something new with my briefs that I do. It’s my job for my colleagues to understand how the people here think; I believe my services will help tremendously.”
“It’s a great opportunity, I am thankful to be able to do this level of work because I get to work with unique individuals. It’s a great honor to work for a major general in the U.S. Army. For America, it’s the least I could give to the country that gave me and my Family freedom. The freedom to choose our way of living, freedom to practice our religion with no fear, freedom to speak our opinion with no fear and finally for the country that gave peace,” said Hermiz.
| Date Taken: | 09.17.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 09.17.2010 00:47 |
| Story ID: | 56449 |
| Location: | IQ |
| Web Views: | 207 |
| Downloads: | 8 |
This work, Naturalized citizens use skills to uplift Iraq, by SGT Cassandra Monroe, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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