Preliminary Findings on the Experiences of Muslims in the U.S. Military

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Preliminary Findings on the Experiences of
Muslims in the U.S. Military

• Michelle Sandhoff, PhD Candidate
• University of Maryland, College Park
• DEOMI Symposium December 2011

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Introduction

• What are the experiences of Muslims serving in
  the U.S. military?
• How does the post-9/11 atmosphere affect the
  experiences of Muslim service members?
• Why pay attention to this group?

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Context

• 9/11 and the subsequent Global War on Terror
  activated Us-vs-Them boundaries that pose
  Muslim and American as mutually exclusive
  categories

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Muslims in the Military

• Estimates range from 3,400-15,000
• DMDC data has severe limitations
• Muslims deploy
• There are Muslim cadets at the Academies
• There are a small number of Muslim Chaplains

Table 1 DMDC data on Muslims in U.S. military, March 2009 Table 1 DMDC data on Muslims in U.S. military, March 2009 Table 1 DMDC data on Muslims in U.S. military, March 2009
Branch Total
Total Active Duty 3,535 .002
Army 1,668 .003
Navy 740 .002
Air Force 454 .002
Marine Corps 673 .002
Total Reserve/Guard 1,503 .002
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Methodology
Total 14
Gender Gender
Male 12
Female 2
Race/Ethnicity Race/Ethnicity
South Asian 8
White 3
Arab 2
Other 1
Branch Branch
Army 4
Navy 5
Marines 1
Air Force 4

• In-depth interviews with Muslim service members
  and veterans
• Please note that the following analysis is
  preliminary.

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Motivation to Enlist

• Consistent with motivations for general
  population
• But also a recognition of having unique abilities
  and a desire to serve the nation
• I wanted to do my part to serve the country and
  to utilize my knowledge about Middle Eastern and
  South Asian cultures and languages so I joined
  the military.
• As a Muslim I had something to contribute
  back.
• I decided that this is a country worth dying
  for and thats when I decided that I would
  eventually join the military.

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There is a Spectrum of Experience

• As with the general population, there is a
  diversity of experience among Muslim service
  members.
• Im interested in the ways in which being Muslim
  in post-9/11 America systematically shaped these
  experiences
• Atmosphere of Us-vs-Them
• Negative outcomes of this
• Military as protection from this
• Muslim service members as a resource

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Us-vs-Them

• My respondents were aware of an us-vs-them
  atmosphere in the military
• You were certainly aware that you were Muslim.
  especially cause of the conflicts. But if the
  conflicts werent happening it would not be an
  issue at all.
• It wasnt bad til September 11th, then they
  started looking at us different, like suspicious
  for a while. I noticed that a lot of times it
  seemed like we were watched. We were asked to
  report to the security office, and they
  questioned us.
• Before 9/11 a couple dozen Muslims would come
  to Friday prayer but then after 9/11, I would
  run into Muslims and I'd say We do Friday
  prayers would you be interested? and quite a few
  of them would say No, I'd rather not tell
  somebody I'm Muslim.

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In Some Cases This Led to Negative Experiences

• My commander said I will not give you an
  Islamic language cause youre Muslim. He
  thought I would use it to communicate with
  terrorists and things like that.
• Another respondents commander denied him
  religious accommodation, I continued praying but
  I had to hide it. I pray whenever he goes
  somewhere, I pray when hes not around. I felt
  like Im not even a human being if you can
  prevent me from praying, and I had to hide myself
  behind the curtains just to do the prayer.
• One respondent spent 2 years under investigation
  when, following a domestic dispute, her ex-spouse
  made a false accusation that she was a
  terrorist.

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In Other Cases the Military Provided Protection

• In the military nobody ever called you a Sand
  N or anything, but here my kids in school
  they are called names and stuff. Its like
  going from a fish bowl to the open sea where you
  can be a target to anybody and you cant do
  anything about it. If anybody in the military
  called me names I would have just gone to the
  unit commander and he would reprimand them. Here
  people scream at you in the streets, calling you
  names, but you cant do anything about it.
• I met some people in the military that I knew
  thought of me as some evil terrorist or
  something, but because the military is an
  equal opportunity organization you can't openly
  go out there and make accusations or make fun of
  somebody because the repercussions a pretty
  severe.

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Camaraderie and Sense of Belonging

• Many respondents reported that camaraderie was
  one of the most positive experiences of their
  military service.
• I never had any problem. I think its no matter
  who you are as long as you perform. You sleep
  with them members of unit, train with them, do
  almost everything with them, so you become sorta
  a family. You dont feel like youre different.
• You have a mission to accomplish and you focus
  on that and you come together as really brothers
  in arms. Its just you and the men or women that
  youre working with and you are literally putting
  your life on the line for the mission and for
  each other and it forms this bond that is really
  incredible and its something youll never get
  anywhere in the civilian world.

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Muslim Service Members as a Resource

• Most of my respondents report being sought out
  for guidance or advice
• I mean no matter how much you get from the
  schoolhouse nothing can replace me, at that point
  Id had 27 years being Muslim, being raised in a
  Muslim family,understanding things.
• One of the first things we do when we get on
  the ground is building rapport with your locals
  and it was instant for me. They recognized my
  name, me being Muslim. I prayed with them and I
  met with the local villagers and especially
  when youre talking about a country where some of
  the villagers dont have any access to
  electricity, no TV, no internet, so you can
  imagine what their perception of America is. So
  me coming in and introducing myself as an
  American, as a Muslim, can have a huge impact.

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• The military helped to break some of my
  barriers, and conversely I was able to help break
  some of the stereotypes that Americans had of
  Muslims, and when I would deploy outside the
  United States, I would come in contact with
  Muslim officers from different nations and so Id
  help break some of those barriers.
• Being a Muslim in the military I can be a
  liaison. In the mosque people talk about the
  military in Iraq or Afghanistan, I feel confident
  in my voice saying Hey look, I was in the
  military and that's not really how it is. And
  the same when I was in the military and they
  would talk about Oh the Muslims this, the
  Muslims that I can be like Hey that's a myth.
  So I feel more confident in my voice talking to
  either one of the communities and dispelling
  myths.

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Military as a Melting Pot

• After I joined the military I met people from
  all parts of the country, which was absolutely
  phenomenal. For me that was really when I started
  feeling like I was an American, and I felt that
  they accepted me and I accepted them, and even
  though they felt like there's something different
  about this guy we got close enough to where they
  could joke about my religion or about my
  background. So I was one of the boys, but I was a
  little bit different, and that was OK.
• That is one thing thats so beautiful about the
  military, that you take folks from every corner
  of the United States, every different background,
  you throw them together and sure enough because
  of this assimilation most of the people come out
  a little bit better.  

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Discussion

• The participation of Muslims in the U.S. military
  and how the military should understand Islam are
  ongoing debates
• Personally, I dont trust one Muslim in our
  military.
• My solution is, and I guarantee you this will
  work, you dont let any Muslims serve in the
  military.
• Comments made by representative Rick Womick
  (R-TN) in interviews in Nov 2011
• But, Muslim service members provide unique and
  valuable expertise to the military.
• To blacklist a whole group of people based on
  their religious beliefs or background runs
  counter to deeply held American ideals and could
  negatively effect legitimacy and effectiveness of
  the military.

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• Morale and readiness seem to be most affected
  when us-vs-them ideologies become charged and
  suspicion tears apart a unit
• Interestingly, within my (small) sample, this
  happened exclusively in non-combat units, and
  particularly within intelligence and linguist
  groups.
• I was in the debriefing room and there were a
  couple of intelligence officers that were making
  fun of Muslims. And so I sit there and I listen,
  and they had no clue that I was a Muslim, and so
  then I told them, You know what, you guys are
  ignorant. If you've got a question you can ask me
  cause Im a Muslim, but don't just go out there
  and spread stuff that's not accurate

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• Need for further investigation to find out if
  this is a systemic problem.
• What are those we charge with learning about
  these languages and cultures learning?
• And the students were like I heard that
  youre actually supposed to kill non-Muslims if
  youre Muslim. I cant believe they got this
  far learning the language and still think that. I
  mean all your teachers were from Afghanistan, do
  you think they would teach you? laughs Are you
  alive right now? I mean they wouldve killed you
  if that was true. Its just common sense some of
  this stuff.

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• In the last 10 years the military has realized
  the importance of fostering cross-cultural
  competence among service members.
• How do we emphasize the importance of
  cross-cultural competence not just in dealing
  with locals, but also in dealing with our
  colleagues?

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Questions Discussion