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El-Yousseph retires from Ohio Air National Guard

By Liz Pecek
ThisWeek
Posted on Thursday September 23, 2004

For one last time, a proud father and a proud son stood together in uniform on Sunday. Mahmoud El-Yousseph, a technical sergeant with the Ohio Air National Guard’s 121st Air Refueling Wing, is retiring after 20 years of military service; he spent nine years in the Air Force Reserve and 11 years in the Ohio Air National Guard.

He hosted a retirement party at his Westerville home on Sunday. His eldest son, 24-year old Yousef El-Yousseph, was there as well. Yousef was scheduled to depart this week for Ft. Wainwright in Alaska, where he will be stationed as a private in the Army’s 123rd Aviation regiment. “I’m so proud of him,” Mahmoud said of Yousef, one of his six children. “It’s good for (his) future.”

Now that he’s retiring, Mahmoud said he plans to devote more time to writing and submitting commentaries and letters to the editor to publications around the country. Over the past 22 years, he’s written more than 150 of them, he said. Most, he said, address issues affecting Muslim and Arab Americans.

Mahmoud said last week that he’s offended that Republican Richard Hoffman, a New Yorker running for a seat in Congress, has suggested that Muslims in the military be investigated for ties to terrorism. “In our justice system, you are innocent until proven guilty,” he said.

Mahmoud added that just because someone has dark skin and a different name, it doesn’t mean they’re not loyal to their country. “It’s my country like anybody else,” he said. “I’m red, white and blue.” Muslim and Arab Americans, he said, are willing to serve and die for their country.

The Association of Patriotic Arab Americans in Military, of which Mahmoud is a member, estimates that more than 3,500 Arab Americans and more than 10,000 Muslims are currently serving in the armed forces.

The nonprofit group was created after Sept. 11, 2001, and its Web site states that it’s the first official organization of Arab Americans in the military. Born and raised in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, Mahmoud El-Yousseph said he came to the U.S. from Germany in 1977. He became a U.S. citizen in 1980, and has lived in Westerville since 1983.

“I like Westerville,” he said. “I’m happy here.”

But after Sept. 11, 2001, he said, someone called his home and threatened to blow it up. His children were called terrorists at school. Mahmoud said it doesn’t happen any more, but it’s something that stays in their minds. “It’s engraved in the psyche of my children,” he said, adding that he wants his children to be proud of who they are.

Education, he said, is key to eliminating biases and negative perceptions of Muslim and Arab Americans. Thus, he will continue researching and writing to educate others. Some of the responses, he said, are negative, but more are positive. Even if his submissions don’t make it to print, Mahmoud said, at least the editors are educated. Yousef said he has read most of his father’s work, but doesn’t plan on doing anything similar himself. “My dad speaks out enough for both of us,” he said. “We’re all really proud of him.”