The Marine corporal is one of many immigrants serving in the U.S. military who are getting government help to become citizens before their units are sent overseas for potential hostilities in Iraq or elsewhere.

Gallardo is one of several members of the 6th Motor Transport Battalion whose citizenship applications were pending when the reserve unit was activated Jan. 14. He still must wait a few weeks before his paperwork can be approved, but expects to take the citizenship oath before long.

"It's very important for me, in case we get into combat with anybody," said the 25-year-old native of Mexico, who lives in Wharton. "If it's my day to go, I want it to be as a citizen of this country."

Members of the armed services need not be U.S. citizens. Enlisted personnel about to be deployed commonly request and receive speeded-up citizenship applications, said Tim Counts, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Counts did not know how many servicepeople are seeking expedited citizenship.

One member of Gallardo's unit, Cpl. Benson Perez Del Rosario of the Philippines, became a citizen Friday in a brief ceremony before his comrades at the reserve headquarters.

You hear all the bad news about people coming here with drugs and smugglers," said Sgt. Maj. Jay Crowley of the motor transport unit. "These are guys who did things the right way, signed up to serve their country and want to become citizens," Crowley said.

The unit, which hauls heavy equipment and supplies to the front lines, does not know if or when it will be deployed overseas.

Lance Cpl. Jorge Diaz, a Peruvian native also hoping for citizenship, said he is ready.

"I'm not scared. I'm excited," said Diaz, 28, of Morristown. "I gotta do what I gotta do."