Can you join the US Army being a Non-American? Then naturalize in the Army?

Question

Can you join the US Army being a Non-American? Then naturalize in the Army?

Answer 1

As far as I know anyone who is a legal resident of the US can enlist in the US Army. This should speed up the process of naturalization, and if not speed up, it makes it easier and the person in question gets a lot of legal help through the Army.  

Answer 2

The other answers assume you already have at least a Green Card.  There is a good chance you don't, and that you are like me, a Non-American without a Green Card who tried to join the U.S. Army:

As a Canadian, I am indistinguishable from an American, yet the U.S. Army effectively turned me down, and I have since given up on the idea (It's interesting because 30 000 Canadians did serve in the U.S. Army in Vietnam). If you must find out for yourself, email a U.S. Army cyber recruiter like I did. They will quickly respond by telling you they will take you if you have a Green Card, but by law, the U.S. Army cannot help you get a Green Card.

INS won't just give you a Green Card. (Remember most of their job is to stop and discourage people from attempting to come to the U.S. because of xenophobia.)  You would have to get one years after getting a visa through family sponsorship or employer sponsorship, which only can happen if you apply for a job lacking qualified Americans.  The Green Card Lottery (which only has 50 000 winners) applies if your country hasn't sent over a lot of immigrants.

The U.S. Army  obviously is not encouraging Non-Americans without a Green Card to join, so why try to do it?

Answer 3

The answer to both questions is "Yes".

Answer 4

To enlist in the US military,

You must be a US citizen

Or be a Permanent Legal Resident - Green card holder.

The military will not help anyone receive their green card.

Green card holders who do enlist, do get help applying for citizenship.

For those who enlist, the time period to apply for citizenship is reduced to three years

Or if you deploy to a combat zone, the time period is reduced to one day to apply for citizenship.