The flip side of dual nationality

By Dan Franch

The US celebrated Memorial Day on Monday. And while I know no one who died while serving in America's armed forces, it did give me pause and made me think.

In the 1980s I served in the US Marine Corps Reserves and then in Marine Corps Officer Candidate School.

I didn't see any action. Heck, I didn't ever do any full time duty, either. Still, I volunteered, did my time, and can say with certainty that it's the only thing in life I would never do again.

That said, the experiences have given me a mental edge along with some insight into what the military is like. Quite frankly, the training is hell.

I don't even want to think about what it would be like in a war zone. But like I said, there was a positive side from the time I was in. Therein lies the quandary, and what I was thinking about on Monday.

I'm not sure of the rules in Luxembourg, but in Estonia it is compulsory for Estonian 18-year-old males to do one year of military training which, of course, means my two sons will have to serve. Either that or give up their Estonian passport.

There'll be no hiding, particularly since we will be moving back there. A letter will arrive and they'll have to decide - continue to have dual citizenship or give up one.

Who knows how things will be five and nine years down the road. Who knows. What I do know is that it'll be their choice when the time comes, and it won't be an easy one.

But before that and when they ask me now about what it was like for me, I'm torn. I chose to join and appreciated the training. For the most part, I got out of it way more than I put in. That was just a matter of timing and circumstances.

But there were some serious drawbacks and that was without a passport issue to consider. All those thoughts came back to me on Monday.

While many people were honoring the dead, I was thinking about the living... my two sons in specific. It gave me another thing to pause and think about.

Read more articles from Taking A Break

Dan Franch also co-writes wort's bi-monthly comic strip Table Manners  about an expat family living in Luxembourg, and the brand new comic strip Foreign Exchange.

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