Orlando Carretero, left, aviation boatswain’s mate equipment airman, and Jose Rodriguez, culinary specialist seaman apprentice, both of the USS Nimitz, raise their hands for the Oath of Allegiance at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard May 19 as they were naturalized as U.S. citizens.

A total of 47 non-citizen active duty military members — 14 from the USS Nimitz — from a total of 19 different countries became American citizens at the naturalization ceremony.

“I have the opportunity to do something here — give back to the country I grew up in,” said Rodriguez, who was born in Mexico and moved to Fresno, Calif. when he was 4 years old.

Since 2001, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has naturalized 68,974 members of the military.