New Address

Ben has a new address!!!

Benjamin Ingle
TF Yukon Denali
HHT, 1-40 CAV (ABN)
Camp Clark
APO AE 09314

Pics

Hey guys.... here is a link to flicker. Ben has some pics on here of his deployment!
Click here to see pics!

Patiently waiting

I'm about ready to go home. I just HAD to pick the very last month of leave didn't I! Lauren warned me about this. Oh well, I will be sooo ready to be home when I get there. I still don't know the dates yet. I won't know till mid-November.

Well, I guess I could post some updates. Since I've been in Afghanistan, i have applied for and received a branch transfer from Armor to Signal, and received a Captain's Career Course date. It's pretty exciting to make this change. I got my degree in computer science for a reason. Then the Army stuck me in the Armor branch for what was supposed to be 4 years. I guess you could say I got around the system a little bit and am ony doing three years in Armor. I'm also going to CCC early. Most people don't get to go until after they do some primary staff time as a Captain. Me, I'm just skipping that part since I won't have a chance to do that unless I get stuck in Alaska for three more years.

After we redeploy (come home) in JAN/FEB/MAR 2010, I will get 30 days leave. Lauren and I are going with our awesome friends Brett and Tiffany to Hawaii! I really can't wait for that! And we'll probably spent some time up north in AK doing touristy stuff, since we haven't really done any of that.

So, my career course date starts 2 JUL 09 at Fort Gordon, GA. I will get "up to" 30 days to make the trip from Alaska to GA, so probably plenty of time off. That's what I'm looking forward to the most. So we're lookin at leaving AK on 2 JUN, driving or flying all around America, and ending up in GA in time to get an apartment and stuff. It's going to be fun!

Six months later, who knows where we'll be. Italy maybe? Back in Alaska?? I'll find out in about a year!

When a soldier comes home...

When a soldier comes home, he finds it hard....

...to listen to his son whine about being bored.

....to keep a straight face when people complain about potholes. to be tolerant of people who complain about the hassle of getting ready for work.

...to be understanding when a co-worker complains about a bad night's sleep.

...to control his panic when his wife tells him he needs to drive slower.

..to be compassionate when a businessman expresses a fear of flying.

....to keep from laughing when anxious parents say they're afraid to send their kids off to summer camp.

....to keep from ridiculing someone who complains about hot weather.

.....to be civil to people who complain about their jobs.

....to remain calm when his daughter complains about having to walk the dog.

.....to just walk away when someone says they only get two weeks of vacation a year.

....to be forgiving when someone says how hard it is to have a new baby in the house.

The only thing harder than being a Soldier.. Is loving one.

Combat Actoin Badge

My trip to COP (Combat Outpost) Wilderness... It's way up high in the mountains. Too mountainous to have guard towers like the rest of the COPs have. They have little observation posts on the tops of the surrounding mountains. While I was there, we received a mortar attack, and a mortar landed right outside the entrance to the COP. I was safe because the room I was in is a bunker. But it was close enough to get me my combat actoin badge! That's exciting. It was also the first time our own artillery shot AT the enemy instead of illumination rounds or shooting just to scare them. It was pretty fun. Other than that it was a pretty boring trip.

No one on our side got hurt. However, at the same time they were
shooting at the COP, they were shooting at a district center, which is
basically like a town hall. They killed one innocent bystander out
there and injured one other. We don't know if we killed any of the
bad guys, because the Ranger unit did the recon to find out, and they
don't report to us. They do their own thing.

-Ben

More Pics from Ben:

Toby KeithSorry that I haven't been updating this. I have been so busy with taking care of grandpa, taking classes and working. I will be graduating this December with a graphic design degree. I am so excited! I am currently in Lynchbug, VA and loving it!

Hello All

Hello everyone! I'm tired of Afghanistan and ready to come home. 2 months down, 10 to go. I just have to do what Ive done 5 more times. Well, the job is doing OK. It's very busy every day lately. We've been having things to do pretty much all day every day. I think I talk on the phone too much. I'm trying to type this post on a cell phone, so it will be short. I have a headache tonight anyway. I hope everyone is well. I am (except for my headache). The days go by. I just can't wait till 365 of them have gone by. Have a good one everybody!!

One month in

So I've officially been here a month now. Actually over a month. Only 11 more to go! Woo hoo! Well, things aren't se bad here. People bring entertainment. Lately we've been finally catching up with our work in te S4 shop, to where we actually get off before we have to go to bed. We've been watching LOST, beginning with episode 1. It's a fantastic show to get caught up in.

Communication has actually been very good from Gardez. I get to talk to Lauren almost every day, and I have regular access to my personal email. I guess I'm lucky I sit behind a computer all day. One of the perks of a staff job I guess. I shoul dbe getting my own personal internet soon, from a cell phone provider here called Afghan Wireless. The nation's largest cell phone service is ROSHAN with about 47% of the market, but they don't have internet!! Supposedly, they have 3G service here in Gardez. Woah!

Thanks to EVERYONE for keeping me in your prayers! It has kept me going strong for a month so far. But later is when I'm going to need prayer the most, 3/4 through the deployment when I'm REALLY ready to come home!

My job is going really well so far. It seems people are happy with you when you are nice to them. I'm not sure previous units had figured that out. Some locals have told me that people are much happier with our unit, because we actually care about them and treat them like humans. When you take the time to listen to their concerns and do something about them is when you "win hearts and minds". Maybe you've heard about the recent suicide bombings in the country. One was in downtown Kabul, about 2 weeks ago. They killed 20 coalition forces soldiers, and countless civilians. The general population completely hate the Taliban. Then, during the Muslim new year (this past weekend), a suicide bomber killed some civilians celebrating the new year in some random village. It's rediculous what the Taliban do. It's also rediculous to me (and to several locals I've talked to) what someone has to go through to become a suicide bomber. I mean, come on. Who in his right mind would strap 100 pounds of explosives on their chest, march into a crowd, and blow themselves up?? Only someone who thought God told them to do it I guess......

That's about all for now. Y'all have a nice day, and don't forget to write!!

-Ben

Pics from Ben

Here are some pictures Ben sent me! Hopefully he'll have more for us!

Ben and I: Dropping him off :(

On the way to Gardez: 1,000 feet above the village

On the way to Gardez

On the way to Gardez

Ben's bedroomBen's office

FOB Gardez
Sunset from Ben's officeOne of Alexander the Great's outposts as seen from FOB Gardez

Livin the Life

Hi all.

I'm here in Afghanistan living the life. It's an adventure every day. It's interesting to see a unit try and take over where another unit left off. There's a lot of catching up to do for everyone. It's really a lot of work winning the fight against an insurgency. Any insurgency is difficult to beat. Especially in difficult terrain in a foreign culture. The people here are very different. They live differently, have different values, and express themselves differently. It's even more different living in a Pashtun area. Pashtuns have "Pashtunwali", the Pashtun way of life, which supercedes Islam in some ways. It's very interesting working with these people on a daily basis.

It's been a loooong day today fixing problems. Tomorrow will be another long day. I'll get back soon!

Ben

UPDATED ADDRESS!!!

The address written a month ago isn't correct... However, this one is!

1LT Benjamin Ingle
TF Yukon Denali
HHT 1-40 CAV (ABN)
FOB Gardez
APO AE 09354

Thanks everyone!!!

Ben is FINALY in Gardez

This is what Ben wrote to me in an email!

I'm in Gardez now. I flew in Tuesday night and it was a busy day Wednesday. It's pretty cool here. The puddles freeze every night but thaw in the day. I spent the whole day yesterday with my counterpart (the guy that I'm replacing in the unit we're replacing). I experienced some very interesting things. My job will involve a lot of paperwork, talking to locals, and dealing with a lot of stupidity. The kinds of contracts we have are things like a crane with an operator, sewage removal, and a trash pickup guy. There are about a dozen of these contracts just here at Gardez, and I am in control of the contracts in 4 other FOBs too. Afghans are different from Americans in the way they do business. They do whatever they can to make an extra buck, and there is usually some kind of corruption going on. It's going to be a very challenging experience. Ryan said he started out timid and became aggressive very quickly dealing with these people. The same will probably happen to me.

He is starting to get the sniffles (which means he's probably walking around with a tissue in his nose... haha), please pray that he doesn't get sick! Thanks everyone!

STILL at Bagram!

I'm still sitting here at Bagram waiting for a flight out. It's very difficult to fly helicopters through a mountain pass during a snow storm. We try pretty much every day to get out to our FOB but every day the flight gets cancelled due to weather.

Lauren should be on the plane heading home to Ohio as I type this. Hopefully all the loose ends were tied up! I can't help but think there was something that didn't get done, and it will come back to haunt us later.

Bagram Air Field

Hey all. I'm here at Bagram Air Field waiting around taking classes before leaving for my final destination. I'll probably leave on Tuesday. Bagram has pretty much everything anyone could want in a deployed base. The only problem is it's so big! And the transportation is not so great to get around. I only have another couple of minutes so i have to make this short. Thanks to everyone for praying for me and getting me through! I'll update when I can next.

Ben

Hearing from Ben :)

To expand on what Ben wrote...

Ben flew "over the top of the world" as he put it. He first flew into Glasgow, Scotland and Germany and then as you read, into Kirghistan, a total of 24 hours!

He watched 9 movies and is very tired. He said that Scotland was so beautiful, you couldn't see anything from the airport, but a cathedral on top of a hill. He didn't say anything about the other two countries, he didn't really have a lot of time. Praise Jesus that his ears didn't bother him at all! As some of you know, when Ben flies, his ears hurt him really bad and his left side of his face goes numb. This only happens until the plane reaches altitude, then he's fine the rest of the flight. The DR. said it's because he has smaller than normal ear canals. The pressure builds up and causes the pain and numbness. He is probably in Afghanistan by now. He'll have a few classes that he'll have to take, one of them being a "welcome to Afghanistan" class telling them what to expect and such. Thank you again for your prayers!

First post from Overseas

Hey all! I'm writing from Kyrgystan, a stopping point before entering Afghanistan. I got this far okay, and am in the hands of the air force after this. I'll spend about a week in Bagram and then on to my Forward Operating Base (FOB). That's all I have time for for now.

Ben

Saying Good-Bye

Well, today was the day. Ben had to report at 10am (AK time). The night before Ben didn't want to fall asleep, he said that he just wanted to stay up with me all night so he could enjoy my company and hold me. He was so cute. We have been watching the seasons of Smallville, so we continued our quest with season 5. We brought our mattresses into our living room for a more comfortable place to watch TV. I will have to say that I only made it till 2am and he fell asleep soon there after. We woke up around 7am so we could take care of a few things before saying good-bye. We had to buy a few things from the military clothing store for his uniform before he left, we get there and they were closed for Presidents day. Kinda irritating that they were closed because Ben needed those few things before he left. I guess he'll just have to find them at a the base he'll fly into in Afghanistan. I then took Ben the squadron headquarters so he could drop off his bags and put his name on the manifest. I think the waiting for him to leave, was the hardest. We knew this day was coming and it was getting to the point where we just wanted it to be over. We both know that this deployment is something that we have to go through. We know that God is in control and He is the reason that both Ben and I have this overwhelming sense of peace. Long story short, Ben and I prayed together and then we said good-bye.

Thank you all for your prayers, God has sure been there for the both of us through this hard time. Pictures are on Ben's camera, we will post them as soon as we can. Thanks again!

Ben's Address in Afghanistan

Last night we had a FRG (Family Readiness Group) meeting about Ben's deployment. I know... so "Army Wives"-ish. They went over a lot of things that we didn't necessarily want to hear. I think the only thing that we got from that meeting that we really wanted was Ben's address in Afghanistan. If you want to send him some letters or care packages, here is the address.

1LT Benjamin Ingle
HHT. 1-40 CAV
Gardez, APOAE 09354

LT COl. Campbell said that if you want to send a package, the best size would be a shoe box size. If they get a large sized box, they'll put that on the plane last (or not at all for a while) so they can get the needed supplies on first. If they had a small sized box, it's more likely to make it on the plane. So if you want Ben to get something sooner rather than later, a shoe sized box is the way to go!

Deployment

This picture was taken just before the 1-40th Cav. Ball this Jan. 09

We just wanted to let ya'll know that Ben is scheduled for Deployment the 15th of Feburary. As soon as Lauren see's him off to Afghanistan, she'll be heading back to Ohio with her family, helping out with her grandpa. Please keep us in your prayers these next few weeks. Thanks for everything!!!