Everyone makes mistakes. It's easy to put something off when you believe you have the rest of your life to get around to doing it.This doesn't stop him from being an idiot and not applying for at LEAST 20 years (article says he's 39) before that conviction, including while inside the military. Like between the deployments. Or any other time.
This could just as easily have been a story about how expedited citizenship was practically thrown at a war hero who served his country over multiple tours. But no, someone didn't put enough milk in his coffee, so he had to be expeditiously thrown across the border before public sentiment to keep him here could build.
--Patrick