No Result
View All Results
Reserve & National Guard
SUBSCRIBE FREE
No Result
View All Results
Reserve & National Guard
SUBSCRIBE FREE
Reserve & National Guard

Airman pledges to leave no one behind

Crystal Kupper
by Crystal Kupper
August 19, 2021
Nadeem poses with Mike and (left) Fritz Sleigher, a retired Marine, and (right) Christopher Petkas, a Navy veteran.

Nadeem poses with Mike and (left) Fritz Sleigher, a retired Marine, and (right) Christopher Petkas, a Navy veteran.

An Air Force reservist with personal ties to Iraq is rallying to ensure no Iraqi or Afghan interpreter who helped the U.S. military gets left behind.  

Maj. Alea Nadeem spent the first 12 years of her life in Mosul, Iraq. Her father was Iraqi, her mother American. She eventually moved to Ohio, got degrees in criminology and social work in New Mexico and California, joined the Air Force Reserve and began working as a congressional and budget liaison at the Pentagon.  

Nadeem was an all-American success story, “one of the lucky ones,” she said, to escape the Saddam Hussein regime. So as the war on terrorism slogged on, Nadeem zeroed in on a very specific group of people to help: interpreters who worked for the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last 18 years. She felt a kinship with them, she explains.  

“I want Americans to realize what these people did to work with us. They didn’t just work for a paycheck,” Nadeem said. “They worked for us and with us because they believed in American values and principles.”  

“Because of that, they have been and are being slaughtered. The terrorists are literally beheading interpreters.”  

Serving the SIVs 

Nadeem is a board member and volunteer with No One Left Behind (NOLB), the world’s only nonprofit dedicated to serving Afghan and Iraqi interpreters who worked for the U.S. military. NOLB helps interpreters and their families escape the retaliatory violence of their home countries through special U.S. visas called SIVs (Special Immigrant Visa). They also greet the men and women at the airport, help them find housing and transportation, and do whatever else necessary for integration into their new country.  

“We try to meet them where they’re at,” said Nadeem. “We know that if you can get off on the right footing, you’ll be a great member of society.”  

Each interpreter’s situation is different. Sometimes they already have family or friends in the U.S. and a temporary place to stay, Nadeem said, but another might need an apartment and transportation to job interviews. NOLB has purchased groceries, used cars, furniture, and household items for their clients — spending anywhere from $100 up to $10,000.  

Before that photogenic airport arrival, Nadeem and her NOLB colleagues help the interpreters navigate the arduous task of obtaining a SIV. The process can take years — but President Biden’s announcement of an American exit from Afghanistan has accelerated the urgency of NOLB’s mission. The charity, based in Washington, D.C., estimates there are still 18,000 interpreters especially vulnerable to terrorist violence once American forces completely withdraw.  

“These folks have a bullseye on them,” Nadeem said. “Not only is helping them after they helped us the moral and right thing to do, but from a humanitarian perspective, how do you look away from that?”  

Visit GoFundMe to donate to the No One Left Behind Resettlement Aid for SIVs

The happy & hard 

Since joining NOLB in 2019, Nadeem has spent about 10 hours a week working on approximately 20 cases. She loves greeting families at airports, especially when they have young children in tow.  

“There was a family from Afghanistan with a young daughter, and she was holding the American flag,” Nadeem remembered. “It was just this moment, like, ‘Little girl, your life is going to be better, and you’re going to make it.’”  

Nadeem occasionally keeps in contact with interpreters she has helped, such as a man who now goes by Mike. Their Iraqi hometowns are only 45 minutes apart, and Mike could not contain his excitement at a shared dinner over being in the states. Within a year, Mike joined the Marine Corps, and Nadeem attended his boot camp graduation at Parris Island.  

“I’m just so proud of him!” Nadeem said. “He has done something most Americans don’t do, and it’s so humbling.”  

Those are the happy endings Nadeem cherishes. But there are other cases — not just numbers, but real, human lives — that stick with her. In 2020 alone, NOLB assisted 636 SIV families in 93 cities across 20 states at a cost of $430,000. But Nadeem estimates that thousands of interpreters and their relatives have been murdered before NOLB could help them.  

“The hardest moment is feeling like I’m not doing enough and not being to help everybody, because I know there is someone falling through the cracks,” she said.  

NOLB hopes to someday cease operations — because there will be no more interpreters left to help.  

“These people opened their doors to us when we were in their countries,” Nadeem said. “The least we can do is reciprocate.” 

Click No One Left Behind Resettlement Aid for SIVs to donate to the organization’s verified fundraising campaign.

Visit No One Left Behind for updates on its advocacy efforts. 

Read comments
Tags: AfghanistanAir Force reservistinterpretersMaj. Alea NadeemMilitaryNo One Left BehindSIV
Crystal Kupper

Crystal Kupper

Crystal Kupper is a writer, photographer, runner, mom of (at least) four and Air Force wife currently stationed in Arizona. There's nowhere she'd rather be other than with her family or chatting about orphan justice.

Related Posts

Country music icon enlists, wants to inspire next generation of recruits

by Jessica Manfre
3 weeks ago
0
Staff Sgt. Craig Morgan took the oath of enlistment on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. CREDIT: © Grand Ole Opry, photos by Chris Hollo

Army veteran and country music star Craig Morgan surprised an audience this summer by taking the oath of enlistment during...

Read more

Military provides disaster relief assistance on Maui

by AmeriForce Exclusive
1 month ago
0
disaster relief

The Defense Department continues to support disaster relief efforts related to the devastating wildfire on Maui, Hawaii.

Read more

Army Reserve education benefits collapse halts fall semester enrollments

by Military.com
2 months ago
0
U.S. Army Reserve soldier fires a M240B automatic machine gun during a live fire range qualification on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, July 18, 2023. Photo by Spc. Britton Spencer

The Army Reserve ran out of money to cover tuition for its soldiers & is scrambling to reallocate money ahead of the...

Read more

EXCLUSIVE: Incoming Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps talks value of reserves, future of force

by Kari Williams
2 months ago
0
MARFORRES

Sgt. Maj. Carlos Ruiz never served in the MARFORRES, but jokingly hoped he would be confused for doing just that.

Read more

‘Life-changing’ debt-relief extension act would continue assisting reserve component

by AmeriForce Exclusive
2 months ago
0
Debt relief

Guardsmen and reservists facing bankruptcy will continue to get a reprieve, should an extension to a debt relief act be...

Read more

President Biden activated the Individual Ready Reserve

by WeAreTheMighty
2 months ago
0
(U.S. Marine Corps)

On July 13, 2023, President Joe Biden ordered the Selective Reserve and certain members of the IRR to active duty.

Read more

Ads

Let's get social

The RNG Drill

News delivered directly to your inbox

Let's connect!

ABOUT US

  • OUR STORY
  • OUR TEAM
  • OUR WRITERS

MAGAZINE

  • GET PRINT
  • GET DIGITAL
  • GET THE NEWSLETTER

ADVERTISE

  • GET OUR MEDIA KIT
  • PUBLISHER’S STATEMENT

SUBMISSIONS

  • SUBMIT YOUR STORY

Never miss out on the latest stories.

© 2021 Reserve & National Guard by AmeriForce. Privacy Policy | Terms | Site by Swiss Commerce

Thank you for your interest in The Reserve & National Guard Magazine!

Thank you for your interest in The Reserve & National Guard Magazine!

No Result
View All Results
  • NEWS
  • YOUR CAREER
    • UNIT TRAINING
    • DEPLOYMENT
    • PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
    • RECRUITING & RETENTION
    • ENTREPRENEUR
    • TRANSITION
  • EDUCATION
  • MILITARY LIFE
    • MILITARY SPOUSES
    • MILITARY KIDS
    • PARENTING
  • OFF DUTY
    • ENTERTAINMENT
    • TRAVEL
  • HEALTH
    • FITNESS
    • MEDICINE
    • MENTAL HEALTH
  • SPORTS
  • OPINION
  • HISTORY
  • MONEY
    • PERSONAL FINANCE
    • BENEFITS
  • GET THE MAGAZINE
    • PRINT MAGAZINES
    • DIGITAL MAGAZINES
    • GET THE NEWSLETTER
  • ABOUT US
    • MEET OUR TEAM
    • OUR AUTHORS
    • ADVERTISE WITH US
    • SUBMIT YOUR STORY
    • PITCH US
    • CONTACT

© 2022 Reserve & National Guard by AmeriForce. Site by SCBW