-
Posts
7,155 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
5
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Gallery
Events
Store
Everything posted by Ulsterman
-
Rick's Revolution: Treason, Trauma & Truculence
Ulsterman replied to Bear's topic in United States of America
Ed Haynes was in the Continental Army and served under Marse Robert's father? Wow! -
Hungary The Hungarian Order of Merit
Ulsterman replied to Anatoly13's topic in Central & Eastern European States
Nice set! I strongly suspect that these were made pieces held in storage for award and later sold off as government surplus. -
Nice-it says the 24th was in Fredricktown (Canada?) in 1781-exchanged or ....?
-
Rick's Revolution: Treason, Trauma & Truculence
Ulsterman replied to Bear's topic in United States of America
Just think you could wear something like this- much better in appearance than the modern federal awards (and OMSA medals, which i think look like High School JROTC debating awards): -
Rick's Revolution: Treason, Trauma & Truculence
Ulsterman replied to Bear's topic in United States of America
ah- too bad, you'd have an amazingly valuable family heritage society medal bar. Some of us had ancestors fighting a bit further north- and south than you, but I bet they rubbed shoulders in 1765. -
Rick's Revolution: Treason, Trauma & Truculence
Ulsterman replied to Bear's topic in United States of America
most cool. Rick-are thou a member of the SAR perchance? -
unnamed, but KIAs are still engraved. Some are engraved at the local level and others privately. Most aren't, which i think is a crime.
-
EK 1914 Zeppelin Crew EK2
Ulsterman replied to Gordon Williamson's topic in Germany: All Eras: The Iron Cross
wow! wait until Chris b. sees that! -
-
Ribbon Bars
Ulsterman replied to Bob Lyons's topic in Germany: Third Reich: State, Civil, NSDAP Awards & Decorations
It should be noted that Sedalzek produced nice pieces from his small shop-but quietly stayed in business well in the late 1960s. -
Hungary The Hungarian Order of Merit
Ulsterman replied to Anatoly13's topic in Central & Eastern European States
I eagerly await more information with baited breath. I strongly suspect that the larger type (I own one) may have been made from original parts-the stars in the center are almost exactly the same. the chief difference is the golden sunburst backing. My example has the star being glued in! This quality decline is typical late communist era manufacture shoddiness and i have wondered if they were Russian made "replacements"-or if they were put together to make a quick euro/buck/pengo after the state mint sold off all its old scrap. -
Austria-Hungary Franz Joseph's 60th Anniversary cross
Ulsterman replied to Noor's topic in Austro-Hungarian Empire
No they don't, but the ribbon is worth a LOT more than the medal. good buy! -
They have just gone up. It used to be 34. Now it's 42-and maybe even more if you have prior service and a needed MOs. There are some helicopter pilots in Iraq today who flew in Vietnam! If you have any Arabic language skills-they'll waive you right in up to age 50 (and fast too), so long as they can make certain you are not AQ (another reason they like Brits, they are easy to vet)! If you are serious, I can hook you up with a local recruiting sergeant. he'd love to talk to you-or you can log into the army website and sign up. They'll send you a free US Army tee shirt just for filling out their questionnaire and doing basic trivia. See the link above which I just added. Of course for the BIG MONEY there is always the Blackwater Corporation.
-
see here: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles...ing_foreigners/ Enlistment is a fuzzy area. Despite claims otherwise the US army does help foreign national get green cards-fast! When I went through basic enlistment in 1984 two things happened immediately that struck me-officer candidates were pulled from the room immediately and ushered into the process first, with far less yelling and foreign nationals were taken over to the INS officer and had paperwork checked and filled out-whence it was rushed away to the INS office in Boston that afternoon. There was a skinny German exchange student and a Canadian dual national from the County-a girl-and pretty too) and the Sergeants kept making jokes about how the German kid would obviously be going into tanks -"We have great panzers, you'll be right at home"...etc. I should add that they are very firm on the language issue-you can be illiterate (almost) if you are a citizen, but if you get here from Guatamala to enlist you HAVE to speak english fluently. In the First gulf War US embassies around the world were besieged by applicants wanting to join up and obtain citizenship. Now however, a fast track is to have a useful language. If they can use you on the ground somewhere, they are going to try and snap you up.
-
Indeed. Recent Federal legislation now allows non-citizens to obtain US citizenship after only 2 years service-and immediate Green cards (permanent residency) for almost all family members. If one is KIA, then you automatically receive citizenship-and so does everyone in your family. It is estimated that @ 5-10% of the US army is non US born and @ 3-5% are "foreign" (Green Card residents, not citizens as Dave noted above). These numbers are less in the USAF and navy and MUCH less in the coast guard. Almost NO officers are foreigners however. There are a few exceptions and where I have encountered them, they are either Canadian, Israeli or (very rarely) British and/or specialists. I should note that a person with prior British army experience gets some special treatment in the US forces. In some instances basic enlistments are only for 2 years. This 2 year enlistment was common and standard in the basic ranks in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the armed forces were falling apart. My best friend, an ex-Captain in the WOFRs with about 8 years service in Ulster alone (15 years total service, not including territorial army time) went into a local recruitment depot @ 2003 and asked about enlistment in the US army reserves. Upon learning of his background, the sergeant-a friend of mine turned to me and said, "if he signs up, I made my quota for two months". My friend (the WOFR Captain) was promised an instant Lieutenancy with a fast track to Captain and $50,000 enlistment bonus to go regular army. He was offered the same commission deal but (only) $30,000 to go into the reserves. If he had done it his medal bar would have been a fascinating bit of history. https://secure.military.com/Recruiting/page...rec_army_gen.kw