Back From Afghanistan, Parkway Dad Discusses bin Laden's Death And Troops Overseas

When Renee and John Benson heard the news of Osama bin Ladens's death late Sunday night. Renee said she was surprised and didn't believe it at first.

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"When I first heard it. I thought it was sensationalized news. Then I flipped a few channels and every station was reporting it," Renee said. "Then I was like 'Good job military! Took you long enough.' But I was glad it was executed and no military was injured."

Her husband John was not surprised at all.

"I had a feeling that eventually we would get him. It was s sense of relief, though," John said. "Honestly, my first thought was a sense of pride in the way they executed that mission. The country should be proud of them. Then I wondered where those guys came from. "

John was wondering if he'd ever met any of the men on that Special Operations Mission because he himself just returned from an 11- month tour in Afghanistan in March. While his 10 and 12-year old children were attending Parkway's and , this husband and father spent much of the last year helping to rebuild the country thought to be original breeding ground of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network. John is the Battalion Executive Officer of the  205th Military Police Battalion out of Poplar Bluff, MO. It's a Missouri National Guard Unit, and its mission was to mentor, partner with and train Afghanistan's national and border police.

"It was more to build and develop the security force for the country of Afghanistan," John said. 

He said when stationed in Afghanistan, al-Qaida and bin Laden are always in the back of your mind, but they don't stop you from doing your job. So in that sense, news of bin Laden's death may help with the progess of rebuilding the country.

"I think it will help focus everybodys' attention on the development of the county because his presense was something you had to be aware of and on the look out for as you did your job," John tells Town and Country-Manchester Patch. "It's not really closure, but it's a milestone in the operation in Afghanistan. Even though he wasn't found there, it's a link back to what we're doing."

Ironically, John was on a Southwest Airlines flight from St. Louis to Tulsa during the 9/11 attacks. 

"You sensed something was different. Southwest normally tells jokes, and they were very serious," he said. "Then when we landed, there were big planes at the Tulsa airport, and there are not normally big planes like 747s at that airport."

Although his flight landed as scheduled, it wasn't until he got off the plane and saw news coverage in the airport that he realized planes were being hijacked and crashed into buildings.

"It was definitely kind of a shock," he said. "Then you don't know who or what, but I figured I better get back home because things are going to be different and my guard unit could get called up."

With his connecting flight canceled and a shortage of rental cars, John and a few others trying to get back to St. Louis somehow found a rental car and carpooled home.

Despite John being in the National Guard since the early 1990s and the attacks happening in 2001, his first tour in Afghanistan was only last year.

"It was what I signed up to do, knowing something was probably going to happen," John said about receiving the orders. "We had about a two-year notice before the mobilization. We took that time to get the education, training and cultural awareness for our missions."

His battalion's time and work in Afghanistan is something John is proud of. 

"Rebuilding a nonexistent government that has been in turmoil for 25 years, it's amazing when you basically start from scratch. It's going to be a long-term project, but it's doable," he said.

However, he doesn't feel bin Laden's death will have an impact on the length of time troops will stay in the country.

"I dont think that's going to make that much of a change ot the operational mission. We're not done with our mission. The country of Afghanistan is not completely established. There is a lot of work to be done," John said. "The country is not able to handle their security alone."

Neither he nor his wife, Renee, feel bin Laden's death will truly reduce the threat of terrorism against the U.S. either. 

"He can't execute any more heinous acts. There's peace in that, but we know there will be others. We know that there are people who want to cause harm to others, and that's very sad," Renee told Patch. She also says there are sources of hate other than bin Laden. "He's just one individual. It's a culture and a mindset of many. That part of the world has had centuries of conflict."

That's why she says she wasn't surprised when she heard bin Laden was found in Pakistan where the country's government said it's been helping the U.S. search for America's most wanted terrorist.

"The news has been reporting for a while that we thought Pakistan was harboring bin Laden," Renee said.

"I'm not surprised about anything of that nature. I was relatively certain he wasn't in Afghanistan, but I was not surprised that he was in Pakistan or if he was anywhere else," John said. "I'm just glad we found him."

Renee said she expects to see some disruption temporarily and possibly even subgroups of the terror organization form instead of what appears to be the united front al-Qaida has shown publicly in the past.

"Someone may fill in the gap, but it may become more fractionalized," she said. "You see that in the drug culture as leadership changes, people separate and develop subgroups."

No one really knows what will happen next, but after working in Afghanistan for 11 months, John said, he's confident the U.S. military can handle it.

"It kind of makes me proud. We got to see how the whole military organizaton worked over the last year. You always hear people boasting about our military, but until you actually see it in action, it doesn't sink in," John said. "There's always a chance of going back--hopefully not tomorrow."