A Natural in America

Photo By Spc. Matthew H. Oda | Pfc. Kamara McKoy is congratulated by Lt. Gen. William Webster, Army Central Command commander, showcasing her citizenship certificate she was awarded during a Naturalization ceremony, Feb. 10, at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.  

02.15.2010

Story by Spc. Matthew H. Oda 

Joint Force Headquarters - Wyoming National Guard

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait - Freedom and liberty is the American way of life. People born in the United States are automatically a U.S. citizen and granted these liberties.

A natural American citizen, however, might have a different appreciation of what it actually means to be an American citizen, compared to someone who was born in another country and had to earn their citizenship like Pfc. Kamara McKoy, a Headquarters, Headquarters Battery, 115th Fires Brigade Soldier currently deployed to Kuwait.

Since McKoy was a little girl growing up in Spanish Town, Jamaica, she has dreamed of coming to America because of the things she saw on television.

"When I was growing up in Jamaica, I would always see things on T.V. that was going on in the U.S. and say, 'oh my God I want to go there so I can live the glamorous life,'" said 23-year-old McKoy. When I got here I loved it and I didn't want to go back," she added.

Her father left Jamaica to live in America when she was two-years-old, to make a better future for her. When she was nine, he filed paperwork with the immigrations office to bring her to the U.S. and she moved to N.Y., to live with him.

"One of the hardest things when I first came to America was that I had a very strong accent, said McKoy. "When I started elementary, I use to get teased a lot because kids would be kids. I remember this one kid that sat next to me and would not leave me alone. He would hit me and I would tell him 'stop, don't hit me or I'm going to tell on you,' which I did and the teacher told him to stop but of course he didn't," she said. "I told him if he did that one more time, I would hit him back. When he hit me again, I grabbed the chair and slammed it on him many times. They called my dad after that but I didn't get in trouble because the teacher told my dad I did come to him to complain about the boy bothering her, who didn't stop after being told to stop. My dad said 'well he got what he deserved; he shouldn't be beating up my daughter.' So that was the end of that situation and later I found out the boy liked me," she said laughing.

"Later on in high school I came across him again but he seemed to have changed," said McKoy. He played football and got much much bigger. I went up to him and said, 'hey do you remember when I beat you up,' and he said, 'yea but I bet you can't do that again!'"

She went to college after high school to further her education, but later realized maybe it wasn't for her at the time.

"I didn't like going to college. Maybe because I picked the wrong college but I just didn't like it so when I came home one day from campus, I told myself I'm not going back," Mckoy said. "I met this Army recruiter one day and he told me I should join the Army. I told him if I'm going to join the military it's going to be the Air Force because I want to be a pilot and do a barrel roll," she said. "He then told me, 'there are a lot of pilots and helicopters in the Army.' I told him, 'but they can't do barrel rolls,' and he said, 'yes they can!' Of course I said, 'no they can't!' He told me to wait one second because he had a video to show me. So he went and got the video and it was basically a Hooah, Army Strong video with rock and roll, head banger music playing in the background showing an Apache helicopter flying over a hill and all of sudden, it did a barrel roll! As my jaw dropped, I fell in love with the Apache and then joined the Army," she added.

She joined the Active Army as quickly as possible as a unit supply specialist, hoping to apply for flight school. As time went on in the Army, she continued to get distracted and never went to the school.

"My first duty station was at Fort Riley, Kan., with an aviation unit. Even though I didn't get to be a pilot, I got to be around a lot of different helicopters and other aircrafts all day long so it was good and I enjoyed it a lot," said McKoy, "but I still love the Apache!"

Toward the end of her active duty enlistment, she got pregnant and decided to separate from the Army.

"I separated from the active Army due to my pregnancy when my contract was almost up," Mckoy said. "At that time, I wanted my baby to be with family instead of at Fort Riley away from everyone, so I decided to go back home to New York to be with my dad and step mom," she added.

She got to spend what little time she had at home together with her new baby girl Briyana, before being called on active duty again.

"I've been separated from the Army for a year and a half, and then all of a sudden I got called back to Active duty from the Inactive Ready Reserve to go on this deployment," she explained.

While being recalled from the IRR was inconvenient, there were some benefits.

"In 2008 I tried to file for citizenship but it was too much money so I started putting it off. When I got mobilized for this deployment, they told me they would waive the fee so I decided to do it now," she said.

The process of getting a citizenship while on deployment took about six months from the time she began the paperwork, to the time she swore in and was awarded her citizenship.

"You need to submit paperwork first, and then have an interview with someone from the immigrations office. If you pass the interview, you have a ceremony after to be sworn in to be a U.S. citizen," she explained.

When this deployment comes to an end, she plans on visiting her family still in Jamaica, which she has not seen since 2003.

• Date Taken: 02.15.2010
• Date Posted: 02.15.2010 03:00
• Story ID: 45360