Counting His Blessings
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Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs
By the Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs Office
GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba – Army Sgt. 1st Class Tommy Benavidez, the Joint Task Force motor pool non-commissioned officer in charge, is known to everyone at the motor pool as a hard working and easy going Trooper, quick to smile and laugh, and just as quick to tell you about his latest fishing trip. What most people don’t know about him is that for eight years of his life, Benavidez lived in an orphanage in England.
His father, native New Mexican Jose Benavidez, was stationed at
England’s Lakenheath Air Force Base. There Jose met and married Joyce
Last, an English citizen residing in Brentwood. Benavidez was born a
year later in 1958, but his parents soon divorced and his father
returned to New Mexico. His mother suffered a series of seizures and
developed a nervous disorder that kept her from supporting and caring
for Benavidez.
Believing his father had abandoned him and his mother unable to care
for him, social workers placed Benavidez in foster care. At age 8 he
was placed in Harris Lodge, an orphanage located in Rayleigh,
approximately 45 miles from London.
Harris Lodge was a three-story castle-like building. An elderly English
couple in charge lived in an apartment located on the top floor of the
lodge, and mostly supervised the lodge employees – a cook, a cleaning
lady, and a large middle-aged man known as “Uncle Ron.” Uncle Ron lived
on the same floor as the residents and slept with his bedroom door open
– a room strategically located between the girls’ open bay dorm and the
boys’ open bay dorm. He was a tough but fair disciplinarian who
enforced all lodge rules for the approximately 30 residents, some of
whom were true orphans.
Meals at the lodge were always the highlight and lowlight of
Benavidez’s day. He was always hungry, but the food was always bland
and never enough. Residents were served three meals at designated
times. Those who missed a meal did not eat until the next meal was
served. Uncle Ron would walk around the tables and enforce the lodge
rule that everything served had to be eaten. Once meal time was over,
the cook locked all food in a kitchen pantry.
Breakfast at the lodge was always the same: porridge and boiled eggs.
Lunch and dinner consisted of bland pot roasts, including a dish called
Toad in the Hole (a potato pot roast with whole sausages),Yorkshire
pudding and occasionally lamb chops. Residents would fight or barter
for bread edges to wipe the fat drippings from the roasts or lamb
chops. The only time they drank anything besides water was at supper,
when a large hot pot of tea was served. At no time at Harris Lodge was
Benavidez ever served snacks or fast food.
All residents were required to do chores – primarily cleaning their
dormitory, washing dishes and shining shoes. Each resident took a turn
shining everyone else’s school uniform shoes. During the school year,
they were required to do their homework prior to lights being turned
off at 9 p.m.
There was one television, and Uncle Ron picked the program that everyone would watch.
When not wearing their school uniforms, the residents wore hand-me-down
clothing donated to the lodge by various charities. Residents were
allowed to earn money by doing work outside the lodge. Most earned
extra money working at a nearby farm picking bushels of peas during
harvest season.
To break up the monotony, or simply for sheer adventure, Benavidez ran
away numerous times. He and a fellow resident named Colin would
typically sneak out their dormitory window, go down the fire escape,
and ride the train into nearby London. They would visit local bakeries
and ask or beg for sweet bread or other exotic baked goods unavailable
at the orphanage. They would then wander aimlessly around London before
hiking back, usually stopping to sleep in an empty barn with a
haystack. The next day, the farmer would discover them, call the
police, and Benavidez and Colin would be returned to the lodge. They
would dutifully accept their punishment for running away – usually
extra shoe-shining duty.
As he neared his 16th birthday, social workers were determining where
next to place him as the orphanage age limit was 16. During a visit to
his mother’s house, a social worker discovered a stack of letters from
Jose – letters that his mother had never let him see. The social
workers helped Benavidez contact his father, who agreed to take
immediate custody. A couple days later, he was taken to Heathrow
Airport on his way to his new home in Albuquerque, N.M.
There, Benavidez experienced culture shock. Speaking with a thick
English accent, his fellow students at Rio Grande High School laughed
at him as he struggled to pronounce his own Spanish surname. Football,
baseball and basketball were completely alien to him – he had grown up
playing cricket, rugby and soccer. The food in New Mexico was different
too – he had never seen an avocado, much less eaten guacamole.
In due course, he lost his English accent, learned some Spanish and,
despite adjusting to a different country and culture, he considers
himself the luckiest person in the world. Unlike many of his mates at
Harris Lodge, he experienced being part of a family, living with his
family, being hugged and mentored by a parent.
When his JTF deployment ends, Benavidez will return to his family in
New Mexico and spend every spare minute he can with his wife, children
and extended family. Knowing what it’s like to live in an institution
without any family, Benavidez never takes his family for granted.
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Army Sgt. 1st Class Tommy Benavidez, senior non-commissioned officer of Joint Task Force Guantanamo’s motor pool, stands ready with part of his fleet of full-size busses. Benavidez, with the New Mexico National Guard, will soon return home, completing his JTF deployment. JTF Guantanamo conducts safe, humane, legal and transparent care and custody of detained enemy combatants, including those convicted by military commission and those ordered released. JTF Guantanamo conducts intelligence collection, analysis and dissemination for the protection of detainees and personnel working in JTF Guantanamo facilities and in support of the Global War on Terror. JTF Guantanamo provides support to the Office of Military Commissions, to law enforcement and to war crimes investigations. JTF Guantanamo conducts planning for and on order responds to Caribbean mass migration operations. (Pfc. Eric Liesse Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs)
In answer to some who might be wondering why I included this story? Because it is awesome and I liked it well enough to share. MsMarti has a soft spot for news like this!
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