VOA时事新闻2023 参军成移民入籍美国的新捷径（在线收听）

When Esmita Spudes Bidari was a young girl in Nepal, she dreamed of being in the military.

当埃斯米塔·斯皮德斯·比达里小时候在尼泊尔时，她就梦想成为一名军人。

Now her dream has come true.

现在她的梦想实现了。

But instead of serving in Nepal's military, she recently joined the U.S. Army Reserves.

但她最近加入了美国陆军预备役，而没有在尼泊尔军队服役。

Bidari, who heads to basic training in August, is just the latest in a growing number of legal migrants entering the U.S. military.

比达里将于8月开始接受基础训练，她只是越来越多进入美国军队的合法移民中的最新一员。

In the U.S., military service is not required.

在美国，人们不需要服兵役。

And it has been difficult for the military to get enough people to volunteer.

因此，军方很难找到足够的人来志愿服兵役。

As a result, the Army and Air Force have reached out to immigrants, offering a pathway to citizenship for those who join.

因此，陆军和空军向移民伸出了援手，为那些参军的人提供了获得公民身份的途径。

The military is using social media and trying to connect to more people, particularly in inner cities.

军方正在利用社交媒体试图与更多的人联系，尤其是在市中心。

One important way they do this is by using recruiters with similar backgrounds to the immigrants.

他们这样做的一个重要方法是使用与移民背景相似的招聘人员。

"It is one thing to hear about the military from locals here, but it is something else when it's from your fellow brother, from the country you're from," said Bidari.

比达里说：“从当地人那里听到关于军队的消息是一回事，但是从你的同胞那里，从你的祖国那里听到关于军队的消息就是另一回事了。”

She was contacted by Army Staff Sergeant Kalden Lama, who is also from Nepal.

同样来自尼泊尔的陆军上士卡尔登·拉玛联系了她。

Both the Army and the Air Force say they will not meet their recruiting goals this year, and the Navy also expects to fall short.

陆军和空军都表示，他们今年将达不到征兵目标，海军预计也达不到目标。

Defense leaders say young people are more interested in high-paying and less risky jobs.

国防部领导人表示，年轻人对高收入、低风险的工作更感兴趣。

And only about 20 percent of the people who could join the military meet the physical and mental requirements.

而能够参军的人中，只有大约20%的人达到了身体和精神上的要求。

The military says it faces two big challenges.

军方表示，他们面临着两大挑战。

One is finding ways to reach some immigrant populations.

一个是找到接触一些移民的方法。

The other is helping them with the complex process to join the service.

另一个是帮助他们完成参军的复杂过程。

The Air Force effort began this year.

美国空军今年开始招收移民参军。

The first group of 14 finished basic training and became new U.S. citizens in April.

第一批14人完成了基本训练，于今年4月成为美国新公民。

They included immigrants from Cameroon, Jamaica, Kenya, the Philippines, Russia and South Africa.

他们包括来自喀麦隆、牙买加、肯尼亚、菲律宾、俄罗斯和南非的移民。

As of mid-May, there were about 100 in basic training who had begun the citizenship process and about 40 who had finished it.

截至5月中旬，大约有100名接受基本训练的人开始了公民身份申请，大约有40人完成了申请。

Air Force Major General Ed Thomas is head of the service's recruiting command.

美国空军少将埃德·托马斯是征兵司令部的负责人。

He said the Air Force does extra work to make sure the immigrants are not a security risk.

他说，空军做了额外的工作，以确保移民不会构成安全风险。

He added that in many cases, immigrants are not put into jobs that require top-secret work.

他补充说，在许多情况下，移民不会被安排从事需要绝密工作的工作中。

Under the new Air Force program, immigrants can become citizens as soon as they finish their seven weeks of basic training.

根据新的空军计划，移民一旦完成为期七周的基本训练就可以成为美国公民。

In the Army, close to 2,900 immigrants joined during the first half of this budget year, compared with about 2,200 during the same period last year.

在本预算年度的上半年，有近2900名移民加入了陆军，而去年同期约为2200人。

The largest numbers are from Jamaica, with 384, followed by Mexico, the Philippines and Haiti.

人数最多的是牙买加，有384人，其次是墨西哥、菲律宾和海地。

Others are from Nepal, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Colombia and the Dominican Republic.

其他人来自尼泊尔、尼日利亚、加纳、喀麦隆、哥伦比亚和多米尼加共和国。

Bidari, from Nepal, arrived in the U.S. in 2016 to attend college.

比达里来自尼泊尔，2016年来到美国上大学。

She said becoming a U.S. citizen will make it easier for her to travel and bring her parents to the U.S. to visit.

她说，成为美国公民将会使她更容易旅行，也会使她的父母更容易来美国。

She said she joined the military for six years and hopes that her future citizenship will help her become an officer.

她说，她参军六年了，希望她未来的公民身份能帮助她成为一名军官。

"As a little girl, looking at the soldiers, I always had admiration for them," said Bidari, talking about British troops in Nepal.

比达里在谈到驻尼泊尔的英军时说：“小时候，看着士兵，我总是很钦佩他们。”

She also talked about how she felt the moment she joined the U.S. military:

她还谈到了自己加入美国军队那一刻的感受：

"I don't think I have words to really explain how I was feeling. When they said, 'Welcome future soldier,' I was like, 'Oh my goodness, this is happening.'"

“我想我无法用语言来解释我当时的感受。当他们说，‘欢迎未来的士兵’时，我想，‘哦，天哪，这真的发生了。’”

I'm Andrew Smith.

安德鲁·史密斯为您播报。