Afghanistan Picture

Can't blog too much here. But this is the only picture we have so far. He passed his medical training test with flying colors! He endured a 6 inch tube going up from his nose to his throat, 3 times! That was the worst. But it sounded pretty interesting working with mannequins that shoots out fake blood & have organs that moves! Pretty hi-tech!

Suicide bomber kills 5 Americans in Kabul

By Aamer Madhani and Paul Overberg, USA TODAY (5/18/2010)

A suicide car bomb attack on a NATO convoy in the Afghan capital on Tuesday killed five U.S. troops and a Canadian officer and has put 2010 on a pace to become the deadliest year of the war.

The attack in Kabul also killed 12 Afghan civilians and pushed the U.S. death toll to 992 for the 9-year-old war, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Pentagon data. The U.S. military announced on Tuesday the death of a Marine killed during operations two days earlier in Helmand province.

Read more...

Do not worry, Ben and the rest of the Red Falcon Paratroopers are all accounted for and all are fine.

Safe Arrival

Ben has arrived at the big sand pit safely and was able to get on Facebook. He'll be training the locals for several months, and are scattered throughout the country at various locations. If you would like his contact information when it becomes available, please e-mail or call me at eguidosan@gmail.com.

Home Visit

Ben will visit CA during Easter Break next week. He will have a very short stay because he's planning to drive back to North Carolina, visiting couple of his friends on the way.

Returned on Mar. 5, 2010

Ben arrived safely at N.C. at about 11 pm last night. They were processed, check in their equipment, getting meds, safety brief, and stuff. They were released about 4 AM this morning. You should be able to call or text him. He does not have internet access yet for his computer in his barracks. I'm not sure what it all entails. But he is home safe and sound. He's very tired & still have a cough. Praise God!

Facebok messages

Ben 'Facebooked' me and I thought to share with you.

2/14/10 We have a place to keep our bags. And we sleep in the tent where we work at. Otherwise outside. But since it's been raining on and off were all crammed into this little tent. I'm in the army, mom. The infantry. If it comes down to it, we'll sleep outside in the rain. Anyways, can you send some, as in one or two, paper plates, plastic forks, and some napkins? I miss eating like that. Oh, and a few bags of ramen noodles. That's it for now I guess. Thanks

2/15/10 War zone or not, we are the infantry, and this is the Army; we tough everything out. Here are the rumors I've heard: were being extended another 90 days, were going kenetic, meaning start targeting Hatian gangsters and bullets start flying, we're leaving here in 18 days, and we're leaving here around July. So take your pick. Are you saying you haven't shipped the box yet? I think the cookies should be fine too, until they reach the hands of me and my buddies :)

If you have a Facebook account, it'll be fastest way of communication with him. Although it's always nice to receive mail. I'm planning to send another pkg on 2/16 or 2/17. So if you want me to include anything from you, I'll be happy to do that. Just e-mail me at eguidosan@gmail.com. Thanks.

APO Mailing Address

We finally got an APO address to send letters & pkg to him. You can send anything but drugs & weapons, I'm told. Just follow the typical rules from the post office.

PFC Guido, Ben
B Co 1-325 AIR 82nd ABN
LSA RED
APO AA 34068

I'm sending: baby wipes, toilet paper, small mirror, DEET, head lamp, book, paper, pen, envelopes, stamps, candies & non-perishable food items, and some $ for him to buy junk food like sugar cane & soda. It's very hot there so stay away from chocolates & stuff that will melt/spoil.

Last time I heard from Ben on 2/10, he's been sleeping outside on the dirt. They got kicked out of the building because some higher ranking people came in and took over. It was raining that evening and they have no cover. I don't know why they don't have tents to sleep in. He is very dirty as you can imagine life without running water. I don't think they've been able to launder their clothes?! I don't even want to know. Few days ago, he had a 'shower' for the first time in several weeks, from a 5 gal. bucket, with a cup. Apparently the field shower they set up is broken.

I have to say that he's been a tropper out there with the meager living conditions. I have not heard him whine or complain at all. At least not to me. He's probably keeping all the 'bad' news away so that I won't worry.

He did figure out a way to send me flowers for Valentines Day. What a sweetie!

Keep up your much needed & appreciated prayers for him!

Slight improvement

Ben called Sunday evening (1/31) and updated us with exciting news. Well, not really!

His unit was assigned to the outskirts of the town, so he is not in the middle of all the actions as he hoped to be. He has not seen any dead bodies or smell anything bad. The Haitian like the Army soldiers but not the UN workers because they are not rude & harsh with them.

He's been assigned to do security and the grave yard shift (12 midnite - 8 AM). His main duty is to watch the radio and report on an hourly basis of activities. Since he's nite owl, it's not too bad. He gets to call some friends in CA since the time differences works out. But he's totally bored.

They still do not have running water & electricity, hence no showers & clean laundry - oh, but they do have baby wipes. The living conditions improve slowly that they now sleep in a building on cots with mosquito nets. He's not sure how much the nets really help since the windows & doors in the building do not have screen & doors on them. They still have limited food & water supply for the troops.

His bug bites are not as bad, he thinks the sulfur in the match-heads are working. (I wonder how many he takes?)

The army is setting up stations so that they can receive mail within couple of weeks. I will post the address here. They can receive anything other than guns and drugs.

According to the Army, their deployment will last no longer than 6 months. They should be coming home around July 18, or sooner.

Update from Ben 1/27/10

Ben was able to call home tonight, thanks to the generosity of AT&T providing free service to AT&T customers in Haiti to the states for a period of time. Despite the harsh conditions described below, he seemed to be in good spirit.

Several prayer requests:

1. He's sleeping outside on the ground and the bugs are eating him up alive! He's got bug bites everywhere. I don't know if he's joking or not when he said he's taking sulfur (from match heads)so that the bugs won't like his blood (but it's probably not working). Please pray for health & improved living conditions.

2. There's not enough food & water for their company. They get 2 meals (MRE's -meals ready to eat) & 6 bottled water a day. It's very hot & humid there. If they don't drink, they will pass out during the day. They are waiting for a generator to arrive next week so that they will have electricity. Other companies already have their generators. They do not have enough water to shower. Please pray for basic sustenance to be available soon.

3. Since he's in the intelligence part of his company, they were sent to go out and talk to people and ask questions & help them out. They have no paper to write so they were using trash to write info down. They were well liked by the Haitians. But they were sent to areas where they are not needed. And the rest of his company is complaining that they are not doing their job right. So they were told to stop what they are doing. The company commander is not aware of this situation & so he's not sure what they'll be doing tomorrow. Please pray for good leadership & organization so that they will be used in a helpful way, and be accepted by the other guys in the company.

I appreciate all your thoughts & prayers for all the relief workers & the Haitians! May God work through all those who sacrifice themselves to be an instrument of peace & love.

Is Ben finally gone?

After 3 days waiting in the hanger, I believe Ben and fellow soldiers finally caught a bird to take them to Haiti this afternoon. He's cell phone is off and we can't reach him anymore. If you ever hear anything from the news, he is in the Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment with the 82nd Airborne out of Fort Bragg, N.C.

Some stories from the news:
Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, January 20, 2010
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=67357

http://www.statesman.com/news/world/u-s-troops-filling-void-left-by-haitian-186736.html

http://www.dodlive.mil/index.php/2010/01/82nd-airborne-soldiers-arrive-in-haiti/

Haiti, take 5?

After days of hurry ups and wait, loading on and off the plane & decision changing, the army finally sent the rest of the bravo company off to Haiti today. Ben texted home about 3:30 AM and said he's finally out. He is excited to go. They're having them learn some French on the way. He got his personal armor and his bag is already there waiting for him. What an opportunity of a lifetime!

Intelligence

As Ben is getting vaccinated for anthrax & small pox amongst other things, the new station in North Carolina where he's at turned out to be one of the toughest units. They've been smoking the new guys pretty bad, even worse than Basic. But he is holding out pretty good. He enjoys the hardwork. He earned alot of respect after he was made to fight another guy in the unit and won. They even put money on them!

However, there's good new and bad news. The good news (for his family & friends) is that they are not putting him in the front line to fight; which is the bad news for him. He wants so bad to be an infantryman. But now they have assigned him to do intelligence. Although he's always been able to hold his own pretty well, they don't think he'll be able to ruck with 100 lbs. sack on his back. He is crushed. Due to low supply in weapons, he will not be issued a gun. He'll be in the safe zone so there's no need. He wanted so bad to be fight for his country, now they won't allow him. But we have to remember that God is in control & He has a perfect plan for him and us. We always have our own agenda & God will lead & guide us to wherever He knows it's best for us. When He closes a door, He always opens another one!

Back to the grind

Ben got a nice 18 days of break from the Army. He spent much time visiting with friends, and have lots of R & R, enjoying the freedom of having a car to go wherever he likes, not depending on a cab.

He left early this morning to go back to Fort Benning, Georgia. Tomorrow, he gets shipped to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he will be stationed, and awaits to be deployed, likely to Afghanistan.

Coming from a 60-70'F sunny CA, he's body is getting a temperature shock into the snow zone with wind chill factors. Brrrr....