# Have any U.S. soldiers brought home "war brides" since 2001? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 29, 2010, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-u-s-soldiers-brought-home-war-brides-since-2001/537695 "2010-04-29T01:10:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AmunRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AmunRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmunRa)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-u-s-soldiers-brought-home-war-brides-since-2001/537695/21 "2010-04-30T05:44:02Z")
> [@Camus](#): > > I take it you haven’t seen the average female GI. Even the average female GI starts looking OK after a year in a combat zone. Hell in the army they call females that get sent to Korea “Queen for a year” and that’s not even a combat zone. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-u-s-soldiers-brought-home-war-brides-since-2001/537695/22 "2010-04-30T07:05:40Z")
> [@Camus](#): > > The biggest factors are likely: > 3) Most male GIs (aka kaffirs) would not likely gain the approval of a local female’s family to marry unless they converted to Islam There are Iraqi Christians. I seriously doubt that they’d want the prospective son-in-law to convert to Islam before marriage. > [@](#): > > I take it you haven’t seen the average female GI. I’ve served with a number of females and there seemed to be no greater an incidence of ugliness than in the general population. I thought quite a lot of them were rather attractive, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Camus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ba8739/32.png) [@Camus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Camus)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-u-s-soldiers-brought-home-war-brides-since-2001/537695/23 "2010-04-30T15:29:09Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > There are Iraqi Christians. I seriously doubt that they’d want the prospective son-in-law to convert to Islam before marriage. Iraqi Christians are a pretty small minority, even moreso now since the war. > [@](#): > > I’ve served with a number of females and there seemed to be no greater an incidence of ugliness than in the general population. I thought quite a lot of them were rather attractive, actually. But did you serve in the United States Army or another service (possibly of another country)? The term “Air Force cute” has a generally positive connotation when referring to females while “Army cute” has a pretty lackluster connotation. ---
**Author:** ![Camus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ba8739/32.png) [@Camus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Camus)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-u-s-soldiers-brought-home-war-brides-since-2001/537695/24 "2010-04-30T15:43:19Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > 1. And other cultures send women to the lions? Uh, what? Arab culture in general - as well as certain ethnic cultures in Afghanistan - are more protective and paternalistic towards women in comparison to Western standards. Is this news? [QUOTE=AK84] 1. Not true of Iraq in the slightest. And not true all over Afghanistan. [/QUOTE] Perhaps I overstated it a bit, but it’s pretty clear that women in Iraq would have difficultly (socially and perhaps not legally anymore) traveling without their [father](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Iraq#cite_note-36)/[husband](http://www.peacewomen.org/news/Iraq/Jan04/ban.html)/[male figure.](http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=173) [QUOTE=AK84] 1. Speculation [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=US Dept. of State website] [Here](http://travel.state.gov/law/citizenship/citizenship_774.html) Marriage of a Muslim to a Non-Muslim Muslim women in Iraq are legally prohibited from marrying a non-Muslim. Therefore, the non-Muslim male must convert his religion to Islam and file a petition with the Social Status Court to declare that he is Muslim. Muslim men in Iraq are permitted to marry non-Muslim women if they are Christian or Jewish only. If the woman belongs to any other religion, she must convert to Islam. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-u-s-soldiers-brought-home-war-brides-since-2001/537695/25 "2010-04-30T16:03:19Z")
There was (is?) something of a stereotype (trope?) where sailors on WestPAC would bring home a new wife from the Phillippines (or Thailand, or Korea, or whichever ports that were visited). They can’t have known the lady for more than a couple weeks, but true love conquers all, I guess. Do these fit the definition of War Bride, if rather loosely? ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-u-s-soldiers-brought-home-war-brides-since-2001/537695/26 "2010-04-30T23:21:11Z")
[This Newsweek article](http://www.newsweek.com/id/43354)from 2007 discussed several Iraqi war brides (and at least one war groom) who’ve married American soldiers. This [article from 2006](http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4191/is_20060813/ai_n16642542/)claims that only 1,500 Americans have filed to bring Iraqi fiancees or spouses to the US as of the time of its writing. The only reference I can find to Afghani war brides is this [2007 article from Reuters](http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-28671120070726), about two Americans converting to Islam and getting married. Unfortunately, the wording of the article makes it ambiguous if they were two male soldiers marrying Afghani women, or a male/female pair who converted to Islam and married each other. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-u-s-soldiers-brought-home-war-brides-since-2001/537695/27 "2010-05-01T00:18:01Z")
> [@Camus](#): > > Iraqi Christians are a pretty small minority, even moreso now since the war. Yes, but that does not negate my assertion. I also forgot something. There are also Muslims in the US Armed Forces. I believe that raises an interesting question: Are the people involved in the nuptials in this story of different faiths? > [@](#): > > But did you serve in the United States Army or another service (possibly of another country)? The term “Air Force cute” has a generally positive connotation when referring to females while “Army cute” has a pretty lackluster connotation. I served in three components of the United States Armed Forces. In order: Regular Army, Army Reserves, and Regular Navy. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-u-s-soldiers-brought-home-war-brides-since-2001/537695/28 "2010-05-01T12:57:57Z")
When my brother was in the Air Force, he was forbidden to fraternize with the local inhabitants. Even though they were all US citizens. This was in a place in western Alaska named Unalakleet (from which it still isn’t possible to see Russia). The locals were all Inuit (if that is the right word). ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-u-s-soldiers-brought-home-war-brides-since-2001/537695/29 "2010-05-02T02:18:36Z")
I think there is a very obvious elementary reason why there are so few Afgan war brides. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-u-s-soldiers-brought-home-war-brides-since-2001/537695/30 "2010-05-02T07:10:35Z")
> [@Susanann](#): > > I think there is a very obvious elementary reason why there are so few Afgan war brides. What would that be? \ ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-u-s-soldiers-brought-home-war-brides-since-2001/537695/31 "2010-05-02T07:31:37Z")
Irrelevant spouting: My grandma was a war-bride from Belgium! I mean, there wasn’t really a war on at the time, but still, grandpa was enlisted there and I think it counts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-u-s-soldiers-brought-home-war-brides-since-2001/537695.md?page=1)