“Anchor Baby” SEAL Part Of Bin Laden Raid
News about the fact that one of the Navy SEALs involved in the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden was an “anchor baby” spread, in some circles, almost as fast as the news about the raid itself.
I first read about it when a friend posted a link from Notimex: Soldado de origen mexicano intervino en la operación que dio muerte a Osama bin Laden.
According to the Notimex report his name is Rubén Mejía, a US born Mexican-American who’s parents came here from Guanajuato, Mexico. He wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger that killed bin Laden, but he was there, a member of the specifically chosen group that carried out the mission. He enlisted in the armed forces in 2005, spent seven months in Afghanistan and joined the elite SEALs.
The Tucson Citizen picks-up the story:
Mejía’s father, a machine operator, recalled the moment that soldiers in uniform came to his home in Los Angeles holding a folded flag. “It was one of the biggest scares,” explained Martín Mejía. “When they [the soldiers] saw us [the family] begin to cry they clarified that bringing the flag was an expression of recognition and honor because our son had carried out a great mission for our nation,” stated the SEAL’s father.
How elite is this unit? The TC says that it’s a “counterterrorism group [that is] so specialized that no one can apply to join it.”
However you may feel about the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, and whether this story is verified beyond Notimex and the Tucson Citizen, one thing is for sure: Latinos have been on every front of every US war and military operation since the Revolutionary War. And still, as the TC article points out, with “Casualties among Latino soldiers in Iraq ranked the highest compared to other minority groups in 2007,
In the last 75 years, there have been only three (Latino) officers on active duty with three stars and just one with four. What’s the problem? We’re as capable, competent and educated as any other segment of society,” retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez stated last year. If the hundreds of Latinos who have died serving our country abroad aren’t enough to change that, hopefully Rubén Mejía’s brave and historic actions are.
Follow Victor Landa on Twitter: @vlanda
[Photo by DVIDSHU]
