by Sean Ruppert, Staff Writer
When Matthew Benjamin’s job sends him out on an assignment, he doesn’t have the luxury of knowing exactly when he’ll be returning.
Sgt. Benjamin, 22, of Dayton, joined the U.S. Air Force shortly after his graduation from South Brunswick High School in 2004. He has been deployed three times since his enlistment; twice to Iraq and once to Turkey. He returned from his latest deployment, where we was stationed in Baghdad, in the early morning hours of Nov. 15.
”When you go over they give you an approximation on when you might come back,” Sgt. Benjamin said. “It could be longer though, and it definitely won’t be shorter.”
Sgt. Benjamin said that he spent about four-and-a-half months in the capital city of the war-torn country.
He said that the war is a very complicated situation, but that he does believe progress is being made.
”There are hundreds of military contractors, agencies, people doing training. Everyone does a little piece of the puzzle and hopefully we are all making this big picture,” Sgt. Benjamin said. “It is slow, but things are happening. Bases where you couldn’t land an airplane during my first tour, you can now. Behind where I was staying in Baghdad was an Iraqi Special Forces training facility. They were going out and bringing in the bad guys.”
He said that he was able to interact with some Iraq military members, who he said risk their own lives as well as the lives of their family members by joining the Iraqi army. He said that interacting with them gave him a new perspective on what they are going through, as many are fighting just to create a normal environment.
”They are extremely hardworking, and they just seem to want the basics,” he said. “They want safety and security and to be able to sustain a life with their family. They are looking to us to provide the security, and hoping it pans out. Everyone is anxious to get back to work and get life started again.”
He said one of the biggest hurdles has been the lack of a culture of democracy in the nation.
”I think our biggest battlefields is corruption in the Iraqi government,” Sgt. Benjamin said. “They have never had a government for them, so they don’t expect it.”
He said that coming back to the United States is very relieving, and something that many servicemen and women think about a lot when they are in a deployment.
”Home feels like a dream, it almost seems like it isn’t going to come true,” he said. “When you get back it is a totally different environment than the one you were just in. The concerns are different, and you realize how different everyone else’s lives have been for the last four-and-a-half months while you were gone.”
Sgt. Benjamin said that he signed up for full-time service in the military three weeks after his SBHS graduation because he wanted to work in a high-speed and hands-on atmosphere, where he could learn things that he could use in the outside world.
”I felt that the Air Force was the place,” he said.
Sgt. Benjamin said that before his first deployment to Iraq in the summer of 2006, when he was stationed in the northern city of Balad, he was looking forward to being sent overseas.
”I was excited, because I joined to serve, to do what the military wanted me to do,” Sgt. Benjamin said. “I thought that was where it was at, and that it was time for me to get my experience.”
In Balad, he worked at the ramp services on the air base, taking cargo and dispersing it to forward operating bases. He said it was common to work 12 to 18 hour shifts, six days a week.
”The faster we sent things out, the more lives that might be saved,” he said. “Everyone just moves fast because they know what they have to do.”
Sgt. Benjamin’s enlistment is almost done, and he said he is considering whether to re-enlist.
”With progress starting to show, and reconstruction getting a foothold, I am considering going back,” Sgt. Benjamin said. “I am not sure if I am ready to not wear the uniform. Going through all the reintegration of being home, I feel like it is the next day after I left. Everyone else’s life has gone into fast forward, and mine has been stuck in pause. So much changes while you are gone, but your life here in America has not gone anywhere.”
He said that he is considering going to college on the G.I. Bill to study environmental science. He said that going to college is what he is “most excited about.”
Sgt. Benjamin’s mother, Marlena, said she was relieved to have her son home, and is excited that he might be moving on to a less dangerous life.
”It’s just pure relief,” she said. “It is almost like losing him, and then finding him. Your legs get weak and you want to collapse, but you are so grateful when it is over.”

