MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii -- “I volunteered to stay in Iraq so that I could feel as though I have the right to live in a country with so many freedoms and rights,” said a 21-year old Sergeant regarding his 13-month deployment. “It wasn’t about whether I liked or hated my time overseas, it was about helping people and doing the best I could to provide my services.”
Sergeant Gabriel F. Al-Rajhi, cryptilogical Arabic linguist, 3rd Radio Battalion, left Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, in March, 2004 with his unit for a 6-month deployment to Iraq.
Once the initial deployment drew to an end, explained Al-Rajhi, an Anaheim, Calif. native who calls Saudi Arabia home, he felt as though he hadn’t done all he could have and asked if he could stay for a few more months and help out wherever he was needed.
As an American military member fluent in Arabic, his request did not take long to get approved.
“There was a short debate between the command in Iraq and my unit,” said the charismatic Marine, “ but soon 3rd Radio Bn. had left and I remained in Iraq, mainly to serve as a translator.”
Al-Rajhi was born in the U.S. but moved to Saudi Arabia at the age of one-and-a-half. Once he had graduated high school his options were limited. That is when the advice of a friend changed his future.
“I had a buddy that was a former Airman and he told me about the benefits of being in the military in America,” explained Al-Rajhi. “Since I was born in the U.S., I could join the military and they would pay me to go to school, which was what I really wanted to do. It sounded to good to be true.”
Al-Rajhi i had grown up in a country that does not recognize many of the rights Americans take for granted and he decided he wanted to earn the right to live in the U.S. once he had served his time. He asked his friend what the most difficult service he could enter would be.
“Without a seconds hesitation he said the United States Marine Corps,” said Al-Rajhi. “I said to him that was what I wanted to do then.”
Even after that he said his buddy tried to convince him that the Marines were too tough and he should join another service, but Al-Rajhi had his mind made up.
“I told him, my life has never been easy and I am not about to start now,” he said.
That day he went to an all-night Internet café and called a Marine Corps recruiter to find out what he needed to do to join. Once he had all the facts, he quickly got his things together and left for Los Angeles, Calif.
He stepped on the yellow footprints in Dec. 2001 and once he graduated boot camp and his Military Occupational Specialty school time was over, he got his orders to his first duty station and arrived to K-Bay in Nov. 2003.
For the first six-months with 3rd Radio Bn., he had served as a linguist performing signals intelligence tasks. Once he had taken on his new responsibilities as a translator, his experiences began to change and broaden to the point where he became the personal translator for Commanding General of 1 Marine Expeditionary Force.
“The position I gained through my understanding and knowledge of the Arabic language gave me more opportunities to make a difference than I could have imagined,” explained Al-Rajhi.
During the next seven-months, he met and translated for well known people such as John Kerry and the Prime Minister of Iraq as well as many of the commanders and high ranking officers throughout various cities and bases I Iraq providing valuable intelligence to the Marines and others he aided.
“I feel as though the liberties in the U.S. are taken for granted,” said Al-Rajhi. “Although I am an American citizen, I feel like I should earn my right to live in a country that offers its people so much.”
According to Al-Rajhi, by joining the Marine Corps he has been given the opportunity to earn living in the U.S.
“I have served in the Marine Corps and deployed to Iraq,” he explained. “I think I have earned that right now and I would go back if I was needed, but for now I am content with the things I did and I am just going to relax until I can figure out where the Corps will take me next.”