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US Soldiers Return To Haiti Help Out Their Homeland

By R.Gregg, Raleigh Telegram

Thursday, February 4, 2010

PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI - At least two soldiers in the 82nd Airborne Division helping out in Haiti are very familiar with the Caribbean nation.

Private First Class Lens Faustin and Specialist Claudy Bellanger are natives of Haiti who later joined the US Army.

In an interesting twist of fate, Specialist Bellanger decided to join the Airborne when he met a paratrooper in 1994 during the US military’s deployment to Haiti to keep the peace in the country during a military coup.

Now, in the wake of the massive earthquake that hit Haiti in January, the two soldiers have returned to their homeland as part of the United States humanitarian effort to provide food, water, and medical care for the earthquake survivors.

We met both of the soldiers while embedded with the 82nd Airborne and they were very happy to tell their stories about how they grew up in Haiti but are now proud to be serving in America’s armed forces.

PFC Lens Faustin

Private Faustin has been serving in the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division for six months and he’s currently serving with the 407th Brigade Support Battalion that is stationed at the Port au Prince Airport.

“I was lucky to be inside that unit,” said Faustin.

Faustin said that he grew up in Port au Prince and later moved to the United States over two years ago. He wants to be an air traffic controller and become a United States citizen and he said that joining the Army was the quickest way to reach his goals.

He says that he is proud to be back in Haiti, helping out his homeland.

“I am here in my country helping my people,” said Private Faustin.

Faustin still has family in Haiti as his mother and two sisters are still there in the country. He said he didn’t know if they had survived the earthquake until after he got on the ground in Haiti. Luckily, he said that neither one of them were hurt, although one of their houses was damaged on the first floor due to the tremor.

Private Faustin has been a valuable asset to his unit since they have arrived in the country. He speaks Creole French, so he can translate for his fellow soldiers.

“Especially when we are on a mission, I can speak to them,” said Faustin. “I try to organize, to get them to make two or three lines [to receive food].”

In addition to translating, Faustin has also been helping the 407th by giving directions, which can be important in a country with lots of small alleys and tight turns. It’s easy to get lost here on unfamiliar roads and most of the street signs fell down during the earthquake.

Private Faustin said that the Haitian people have been very welcoming for both him and his fellow soldiers.

“They believe in the US military,” he said. “They know we’re here to help them. They tell us ‘we’re home’ and things like that.”

Specialist Claudy Bellanger

Specialist Claudy Bellanger is also serving with the 82nd Airborne and is assigned to the 2nd Battalion of the 319th Field Artillery Regiment.

Headquartered in town at an equestrian center, the 2nd of the 319th is in charge of handing food and water out directly to Haitian civilians.

Specialist Bellanger’s story about how he ended up joining the 82nd Airborne is an interesting one and goes back to 1994 when he was eight years old.

Bellanger grew up in a town called Jacmel, which is around an hour and a half from Port au Prince. In 1994, the US military, including the 82nd Airborne, was called into Haiti to keep the country from degenerating into a civil war.

“They came out here so they could save us from our own military,” said Bellanger.

Bellanger said that as a child, he was impressed with the Airborne soldiers that he met and how they effectively they took charge.

“I was amazed at what they did,” he said.

Specialist Bellanger said he also ate his first MRE rations when he was eight years old, when a soldier gave him some food.

“I thought that it was good,” he said.

Eager to find out how he could serve, he went up to an Airborne soldier and asked him how he could join. The soldier gave him a card with the Airborne logo on it and Claudy said he saved the card for years.

Later when he was 18 years old, when members of his family moved to Jersey City, New Jersey he went with them to live in America.

Specialist Bellanger says that he remembers the exact day that he joined the military: October 4th, 2006.

As he has served in Iraq for 11 months, Bellanger said that he had only been back to Haiti one time since he joined the Army. He visited his homeland in June of 2008 for two weeks.

“That was the only time I came back before now,” he said.

His mother still lives in Haiti and Bellanger says that although she survived the earthquake, she fell about four times during the tremors and received some bruises. In addition, her house was destroyed.

“Her house is smashed,” he said.

However, he said that the rest of his family made it through relatively unscathed.

Specialist Bellanger said that during the humanitarian mission to Haiti, he has been welcomed home by the Haitian people.

“The people here, they are very friendly and people will just come up to you [to talk],” he said. “I’m glad that I am able to tell them the US military is here to help.”

One of the hardest things he has had to do in Haiti is explain to people that they meet on the streets that they don’t always have food to hand out at any given moment.

“When we don’t have something, I explain to them that it’s not like we don’t want to help them, it’s just not our mission today,” he said.

Returning to his homeland to help out has given Specialist Bellanger extra incentive to work hard, he says.

“Since I’ve gotten off the plane at the airport, I’ve given 110% so that people here can have a better way of life,” he said.

Like Private Faustin in the 407th, Specialist Bellanger has been a big help in providing translating services to the 2nd of the 319th as they deliver food directly to the Haitian people.

Bellanger speaks Creole French, a dialect that he says almost everyone in Haiti speaks. He adds that around 75% of the people speak European French while around 15 to 20% of the people in Haiti speak English.

Specialist Bellanger says that he plans to stick with the Army as a career and then hopes to retire when he is around 40 years old.

“When I reture, I will come back to the island and build a resort hotel,” he said. “It’s summer all year long in Haiti.”

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