I am a U. S. Coast Guard Licensed Merchant Marine Officer, and to be a U. S. Merchant Marine Officer it is required for a person to be a U. S. Citizen not a Legal Resident. The majority of our military services require pilots to be U. S. Citizens not Residents. You can join the military with a green card but there are positions that are restricted do to sensitivity for the requirement to be U. S. Citizens only. The U. S. Coast Guard is a reserve force and we as active/reserve Coasties and Merchant Marines do not belong to the Department of Defense (i.e., military) we belong to the Department of Transportation.
My (now X) husband is Australian; had a green card was married to me a U. S. Coast Guard Merchant Marine Officer, and he was told on numerous occasions that he had to wait until he was sworn in as a Citizen to be considered, then those who were naturalized were not to be chosen over applicants that are by birth U. S. Citizens. My oldest brother is a U. S. Army helicopter flight instructor going on 23 years of service now, and he says that to be a helicopter pilot in the Army U. S. Citizenship is required and from what he knows of the transition to the Coast Guard the requirement is for the applicant to have citizenship not a green card/permanent residence. The two are vastly different. If you plan to marry one of us U. S. Lasses and hope to get the job in the military well it takes 10 years of holding a green card to become a naturalized citizen. Another thing too add. Since the Coast Guard is Department of Transportation and their primary service is the coastal waters of the U.S. and out to the international demarcation line in the oceans they fall under our maritime laws which the Jones Act would prohibit any other than a U.S. Citizen from being an officer in their ranks, and Warrants are considered officers. Another note the Jones Act is also the reason a BA aircraft can fly accross and make stops within our borders but are only able to unload passengers not take on passengers during an inter-state flight. Cartage laws and many other laws for aviation were adopted from the maritime laws.
[This message has been edited by Oil Captain (edited 20 November 2000).]