Photo By Lt. Col. Deanna Bague | A Guardsman from the 192nd Military Police Battalion, Sgt. John Mensah, 3rd from left,...... read more read more
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Sgt. John Mensah, a power generator equipment repair specialist with the 192nd Military Police Battalion, deployed to Iraq June 23. The Connecticut Guardsman is originally from Ghana, West Africa, and became a naturalized citizen July 2, 12 years after joining the Army National Guard.
"You can't help but be real proud when you get immigrants who come into the units and receive their citizenship," said Capt. Corey Holmes, a public affairs officer for Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 192nd MP Bn. "At first you're proud of them for mainly serving a country they don't belong to officially yet. And then you get a situation like this — Sergeant Mensah can look outside now and say, 'This is my country.' Before, he could say, 'This is the country that I serve,' but now he can say that, 'This is my country, and this is the country I serve.'"
Mensah said his desire to join the military emerged in high school back in Akara, Ghana, where he grew up.
"The high school I was going to in Ghana had something called cadet," said Mensah. "They used to wear this uniform — back in the day they were green. I wore [this uniform] and then you'd see the U.S. forces wear that. I loved it, and I said if I come here [to the U.S.], I will make sure that I join the Army."
Mensah arrived to the U.S. in 1997 at the age of 21. He joined his father in Connecticut. Mensah wanted to join the Marine Corps like one of his friends who was a Marine. After watching a commercial on television, Mensah visited a recruiter. Short of joining the Marines, Mensah said his father convinced him to join the Army National Guard instead.
Mensah said his relatives and friends in Ghana did not become aware he was a member of the ANG until 2005 when he deployed to Iraq. Mensah said deployments give him a sense of being in the military full-time.
"It feels good," said Mensah. "I really love it. it's like a full-time job. I don't have any problem doing any military duties."
| Date Taken: | 07.16.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 07.23.2009 13:49 |
| Story ID: | 36721 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 210 |
| Downloads: | 166 |
This work, Ghanaian receives U. S. citizenship before deploying to Iraq, by LTC Deanna Bague, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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