How can military service help to (re)define the concept of citizenship for U.S. ethnic/racial minorities? Since military service has functioned to both incorporate and alienate racial and ethnic minorities in the United States, this dissertation investigates the socio-political incorporation process of Asian Americans through military service. Bringing together in-depth interviews, veteran oral histories, census data, survey data, and secondary research, this project assesses whether service in the U.S. Armed Forces has helped to expand the legal and substantive concept of citizenship for Asian Americans in the United States.

Findings from the dissertation show that prior to the complete expansion of Asian immigration and naturalization policies in 1965, military service via draft or voluntary enlistment brought positive values to Asian American veterans and their ethnic community. First, since veterans are unequivocally entitled to naturalization rights, military service gave many Asian American veterans the claims they needed for legal citizenship when the U.S. government did not accept any other reason for naturalization. Second, the dissertation demonstrates that throughout the 20th century, experiences in the U.S. Armed Forces have often provided a "narrative of deservingness" for Asian Americans in the assertion of socio-political rights in courts and legislatures. Additional findings from the project show that enlistment, even today, provides a means of upward mobility through the usage of the G.I. Bill for post-secondary education for Asian American veterans. Finally, the research shows that work in the military helps create a heightened sense of American identity. With a few exceptions, the (re)socialization effects of military service are significant to the socio- political incorporation of immigrants in terms of promoting a stronger national identification.

This research, however, also considers racially discriminatory practices within the military. The findings show that the impact of the racialized experiences, for some, was the impetus for their activism in anti-war and social justice movements in the late 1960s and 1970s. For others, racism experienced during their time of service sowed the seeds for their lack of trust in and disengagement from the U.S. political system. The disconnect between the rhetoric of the "good" citizenship-soldier and the lack of equal treatment by the U.S. government exposed a racialized aspect of American citizenship.

Ultimately, this project provides a nuanced understanding of not only the Asian American military experience, but also an advancement in the expanded meanings of American citizenship.