My National Guard unit has been called up for Iraq duty, and I must report for what may be a two-year deployment. I leave my home in Mexico today, Saturday, August 14.
I would like to thank the readers who have written to me, expressing their support. I appreciate it. Please pray for me and my family.
I certainly don't look forward to being separated from my wife Lilia and our two boys, David (5) and Raphael (2).
Except for living in Mexico, which does complicate matters, my situation is not unlike that of tens of thousands of National Guardsmen and Reservists, who are being called up and transformed abruptly from "weekend warriors" into full-time military personnel in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.
The strain on family life is enormous.
Of course, we all voluntarily enlisted in the Guard and Reserve, I understand that.
What bothers me is that President Bush and other government officials seem more concerned about the families of illegal aliens than about those of military personnel.
As part of the "family values" spiel, we're told that the families of illegal aliens must be re-united, in the United States of course!
Our government shows more sympathy for the families of those who voluntarily violated our laws than there is for those who voluntarily chose to defend our nation.
As for me and my deployment, it's going to radically change my life. I won't be living in Mexico anymore. Residing here has been a life-changing experience for me in so many ways. I met my wife here. I've learned a lot, and have enjoyed visiting some of the many tourist attractions the country has to offer.
And, I became a VDARE.COM columnist here. (Read my "Education of a Gringo in Mexico")
In the U.S., employers of Guardsmen and Reservists are required to hold their jobs (or something equivalent) for them.
Being a resident of Mexico, that doesn't apply to me. So I'm losing my job as a teacher. As a result, my family is losing the medical insurance coverage that went along with the job. And, I'm losing my Mexican work permit.
So will George W. Bush ask his amigo Vicente Fox to remedy that?
Of course not. But Fox has no qualms about demanding amnesty for millions of illegal alien Mexicans.
But there are encouraging signs that more and more Americans are waking up to the immigration problem, and even signs that more politicians are aware of it. Who knows, maybe when I get back from deployment, you all will have solved the problem, and I'll have to write about something else!
Anyway, a hearty thank you to the many VDARE.COM readers who have read my columns and corresponded with me over the past few years.
Please pray for me, and for all our military personnel in these dangerous times.
Hasta luego,
Allan Wall
American citizen Allan Wall has been living and working legally in Mexico, where he held an FM-2 residency and work permit and is married with two children. But his Texas Army National Guard Brigade, where he serves in a unit composed almost entirely of Americans of Mexican ancestry, has been now mobilized and may be in Iraq for up to two years. He wrote this before he left.
Wall's VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his FRONTPAGEMAG.COM articles are archived here; his website is here. Readers can contact Allan Wall at allan39@prodigy.net.mx.
