09/24/05 A Wharton man's tour of duty in Iraq has been suspended indefinitely so he can spend time with his brother, who was severely injured in a roadside bombing in Bathdad.

CAP Danielle Austen / Daily Record

David Benoit said he wasn't sure who was responsible for the change of heart that now allows him to stay with his brother, Jimmy, as he recovers from wounds he suffered in a bombing in Iraq at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. But he said he believes it was the result of different people applying pressure. HDL Extended leave OK'd for soldier HDL Wharton man can stay with wounded brother as he recovers at U.S. hospital PQT How to help Morris Hills High School has launched a fundraising campaign for the Benoit family. Three Benoit brothers are Morris Hills High School graduates, and faculty members and students wanted to help their mother, Margaret "Missy" Benoit, with family expenses. Missy Benoit is on leave from her job, attending to her son at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. So far, Morris Hills parents have contributed $300 to the new fund. Contributions can be sent to: Morris Hills High School James Benoit, Our Fighting Knight Fund c/o Ms. Linda Turnbull 520 W. Main St. Rockaway, N.J. 07866 BTX by laura bruno daily record Two weeks after his younger brother was critically wounded in Iraq, Army Pfc. David Benoit of Wharton finally received some good news Thursday. His second tour of duty to Iraq was delayed indefinitely so he can remain at his brother's side at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. While Army Spc. James "Jimmy" Benoit fought a persistent infection with a raging fever and underwent almost daily surgeries to repair internal injuries this week, David and his mother, Margaret "Missy" Benoit, fought David's deployment to Iraq. For a week, the company commander at Fort Campbell, Ky., reiterated in phone calls that David Benoit was shipping out for Iraq on Sept. 27. As late as Thursday morning, Missy Benoit was told that her oldest son's unit needed him. Ten minutes following the first call, she received another saying that David's emergency leave was extended until the end of September. "I'm relieved, but I'm irritated it took so much effort," David Benoit said. The effort included repeated phone calls from U.S. Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen's office, Jimmy Benoit's brigade commander and Walter Reed's surgeons. The Benoits said Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, who grew up in Rockaway and led the U.S. military's successful hunt for Saddam Hussein, visited this week and said he would make some inquiries as well. Odierno, like the Benoit brothers, is a Morris Hills High School graduate, Class of 1972. Benoit said he wasn't sure who was responsible for the Army's change of heart, but he believed that it was the result of different people applying pressure. During a conference call with his commander and the head of Walter Reed's medical unit, David was told that paperwork would be filed, reassigning him to Walter Reed's medical hold company. Although he has nothing in writing yet, David Benoit said he was confident that he would not return to Iraq at all. He had served in Iraq from May 2003 to July 2004 and has 14 months left in the Army. "I'm not re-enlisting," 25-year-old David Benoit said. "I had decided in the beginning I would only do the four years and things since have made that decision more concrete." Maj. Frank Garcia, public affairs officer for David Benoit's brigade, confirmed that his deployment was deferred, but he could not say definitively that David would be reassigned to Walter Reed. "I know this has been difficult for his family and I want to express that our prayers and hopes are with the family," Garcia said. "I hope this works out." David Benoit was encouraged to join the Army by his younger brother. Jimmy Benoit had joined the Army's Delayed Entry Program in 2001, during his senior year at Morris Hills. Jimmy Benoit first served in Afghanistan and later was sent to Iraq to help train the Iraqi police force. He was five months shy of finishing his second tour in Iraq when the 9,000-pound armored Humvee he drove was struck during a roadside bomb attack in Baghdad. The Humvee was reduced to rubble, Missy Benoit said, based on photos sent to her by Jimmy's unit. His gunner also was wounded in the attack, but Missy Benoit's 23-year-old middle son suffered the worst injuries. Missy Benoit said she doesn't expect to return to work in the near future, due to the extent of Jimmy's wounds. She said it's going to be a long haul. Meanwhile, her youngest son, Marc, must stay home in Wharton while he attends the County College of Morris. The Benoit family has been told that Jimmy is not likely to walk again. The injuries to his back were extensive, and, after a dozen surgeries, doctors were still finding more problems this week. However, there was good news about Jimmy, too, on Friday. Following surgery, doctors said Jimmy could start to drink juice. Plastic surgeons would be arriving soon to talk over plans to take muscles from Jimmy's legs to repair his back. And Jimmy was talking, recounting to Frelinghuysen, R-Harding, during a visit on Friday how he had never visited Washington, D.C., before. His middle school had taken his eighth-grade class to Boston instead of Washington that year, he told his congressman. The smallest strides are cause for celebration in the Benoit family. "She's been smiling all day," David Benoit said of his mother. "It's good to see her smile." Laura Bruno can be reached at (973) 428-6626 or lbruno2@gannett.com. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 09/23/05 DL Family gives to country, gets little in return BTX They had been going back and forth between the hotel room and the hospital room, one day blending into the other, until Jimmy Benoit opened his eyes and talked in a whisper. He asked to go home. He asked his mother and brother to get him out of the hospital. His mother, after an agonizing wait, got to look into his eyes. "It's such a beautiful thing to see," said Margaret "Missy" Benoit of Wharton. "It gives you hope that miracles happen every day." She has been holding a vigil in Washington D.C. since Sept. 11, a few days after her son Jimmy was seriously wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq. She said much of the past two weeks seemed like a long day, one big blur. Another son, David, also in the Army, has been with her at the hospital. He makes sure his mother eats. He makes sure she sleeps. He is scheduled to go back to his unit in Kentucky on Monday and then to Iraq the next day for a second tour of duty in that war zone. There were some indications on Thursday that David Benoit, 25, would be reassigned so he would not have to go back to Iraq right away. Then he could stay with his mother while his brother, in critical condition, goes through almost daily surgeries at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. It took more than a small amount of prodding. U.S. Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, R-Harding, had been making phone calls to Army officials. Family members said a three-star general had taken an interest in the matter. Maybe that is what it takes to get the Army moving. It apparently did not matter that the Benoit family sacrificed a lot for this country and deserves to be treated with some respect. Jimmy Benoit, 23, was on his second tour of duty in Iraq when a bomb pretty much destroyed the armored vehicle in which he had been riding. He has been heavily sedated and did not open his eyes to recognize anyone for about a week. He just started remembering what happened when the bomb went off, his mother said. She said that was difficult to watch. He asked to go home to New Jersey and she wanted to say, sure, and carry him back to Wharton. Instead, she sits day after day at his bedside, holding his hand, praying for her child to be done with pain. Army officials had a chance to show some compassion. Instead, an Army public information officer told a Daily Record reporter this week that it was unlikely that David Benoit would miss Tuesday's plane ride to Iraq. He said even if "bigwigs" got involved, procedures are procedures. "If he is under the impression that the train is on the tracks and he is not going to deploy, he's probably wrong," said George Heath, a public affairs officer with Fort Campbell, Ky. "Uncle Sam is paying big bucks for this plane." That doesn't exactly sound like the next slogan for an Army recruitment poster. Heath also said Benoit would have to come back to Fort Campbell in Kentucky to fill out paperwork, just to have a shot at reassignment. Yet Benoit said no one ever told him about any paperwork. Benoit said he brought up the Army's concept of "compassionate reassignment" to a superior officer. The Army sometimes reassigns soldiers based on compassion, particularly to avoid family hardship. It is not clear whether the Benoit case fits the bill exactly. He never got the chance to find out. He said his superior officer never mentioned filling out forms. He said the officer changed the subject. He said he didn't want to go over his superior's head. "It's easier to put me on a plane because they already have the paperwork," David Benoit said. "I'm not trying to get out of my deployment. I'm just trying to stay here a little longer." Family members said Frelinghuysen was responsible for the orders that allowed David Benoit to go Washington to be with his mother and brother. Another Army public affairs officer, Maj. Frank Garcia, said on Thursday that he would look into the Benoit case. He said Benoit's deployment status would be "up to his unit" but added that he'd heard something about congressional involvement. When he was told some of the circumstances about Jimmy Benoit's critical condition, he said he wanted to let the family know that he is concerned. "I know this is difficult," he said. That is as close as the Army came this week to a public expression of compassion. Family members did say that three-star Gen. Ray Odierno visited Jimmy Benoit's room this week. Odierno, who grew up in Rockaway and led the hunt for Saddam Hussein in Iraq, knows some people connected to the family, Margaret Benoit said. The general now has a Pentagon office and his son, Anthony Odierno, lost an arm in Iraq and was a patient at Walter Reed. Jimmy Benoit served under Ray Odierno during his first tour in Iraq. "Jimmy was so thrilled to see him," Margaret Benoit said. She said Odierno, who did not return a phone call from the Daily Record on Thursday, said he'd make some inquiries. Frelinghuysen's office already had been calling Army officials to get things moving. It appeared that the bigwigs -- not to mention some compassion -- might be winning out over procedure by Thursday when David Benoit said things were looking better. Still, papers have not yet arrived and he couldn't talk about any of this. He knows how the Army works by now. He knows not to expect anything until orders are in his hands. "Things are moving in a better direction," is all he could say by cell phone. He said earlier this week that he hadn't heard much from his superiors; that they called only when they needed power of attorney to move some of his belongings into storage. The rest already was on its way to Iraq. He said he probably would not have been sent to Washington to see his brother without Frelinghuysen's intercession. Why should it be so difficult? Members of the Benoit family have given a lot to this country. They do not seem to be asking for much in return. Abbott Koloff can be reached at (973) 989-0652 or akoloff@gannett.com.