By Spc. Aaron Rosencrans
Multi-National Division – Baghdad Public Affairs Office
CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq — By taking big steps to better the situation for his family, a Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier made a long journey to the United States to achieve his goal of providing for his family.
Staff Sgt. Francis Aduoffei, a native of Asafo-Akyem, Ghana, who serves as the biomedical maintenance non-commissioned officer in charge, division surgeon section, 4th Infantry Division and MND-B, traveled to the U.S. to find a better opportunity for his family.
One of his guiding influences, he said, occurred roughly 10 years ago when he saw a U.S. Army commercial and felt the call to "Be all he could be."
The then 27-year-old called the number on the TV screen. Within 15 minutes, a recruiter was knocking on his door.
Before coming to the U.S., while he was in college in Ghana, Aduoffei met a refugee from Liberia who was seeking refuge in Ghana. He became friends with the refugee, offered to take her under his wing, and bring her to his family and help get her back on her feet.
Because of the friendship he created with the refugee, he had an opportunity to travel to the U.S. and work.
"(She) and her husband had five kids in their family; so one day, her husband sent five application forms for American visas," Aduoffei said. "One of the kids moved to Nigeria, so they had an extra form and they gave it to me."
After receiving the application, Aduoffei filled it out and was granted the opportunity to move to the U.S. with a green card to work, but he ran into a major financial problem with his new opportunity.
"It wasn't easy to get the ticket to come to America because it costs a lot of money," he said. "When you win (the visa lottery), you need to pay a lot of money for a ticket to come to America, and my family wasn't in a position to pay for that."
At wit's end, Aduoffei did what he thought was best and gave away the work visa.
"I didn't know anybody (in the U.S.)," he said. "I didn't have a single family member or friend in America. So I gave it to my best friend, who had family in America, so he could process it and come. But in the end, he ended up paying for my ticket because he wanted to help my family."
When Aduoffei finally made it to the U.S., he found himself in a new place that didn't make any sense to him. He said he felt overwhelmed by the new sights that were unfamiliar.
"Looking out the car window, at one point, I had to close my eyes because the buildings, the Washington Bridge and all the cars were too much for me," he said. "I thought I was losing my mind. I closed my eyes to pray because I was so confused by what I was seeing."
What made things more difficult for Aduoffei was the fact he was the first person in his family to leave Ghana in generations, and he left without telling his family he was leaving. He had a goal for his family and didn't want anyone to try to keep him from achieving it.
"I left secretly, without telling a single member of my family," Aduoffei said. "I had a goal. When you have a goal and you want to achieve something, it takes your whole mind and heart. My goal was to make sure if anyone in my family had the opportunity to come to America, they wouldn't have to go through what I went through."
Living in a new, unfamiliar place with a group of people he didn't even know made it a challenge for Aduoffei to succeed. He said he moved in with a group of guys from Ghana, who at the time were strangers.
Two weeks after Aduoffei arrived on U.S. soil, he had a job pumping gas, but he knew he should have been doing more with his new opportunity.
"I looked at myself and thought about how I went through school, and I saw myself there, pumping gas," he said. "In two weeks time, I was watching TV on my day off and I saw a commercial that said 'be all that you can be.'"
From there, the rest was history. Aduoffei went through basic training, spent 11 months in advanced individual training, where he learned how to repair medical equipment, moved around in the Army and began a new chapter of his journey.
"When I got to my first duty station, I really didn't have a chance to fix anything because we were always out in the field, driving vehicles, and I had to work in the paint booth, painting military vehicles," he said. "I started to lose my skills, and I felt like my skills were being wasted."
The experience frustrated the new Soldier, and he said he vowed to change this for future Soldiers if he ever made it up the ranks.
In 2007, Aduoffei volunteered to deploy with the 4th Inf. Div. to Iraq. Since then, he has made big changes to the way biomedical maintenance Soldiers perform their duties.
"One of the lessons learned was the need for a senior biomedical NCO to provide system oversight and unify all the brigade resources," said Maj. Jim Waddick, a native of Edina, Minn., who serves as the deputy division surgeon, 4th Inf. Div. and MND-B. "So they are now working together to reduce the down time of the medical equipment."
Since arriving in Iraq in December, Aduoffei has reshaped the way MND-B maintains the medical equipment in all of the medical centers around Baghdad, Waddick continued.
By working closely with the biomedical maintenance Soldiers in the area and the 56th Multi-Purpose Medical Battalion, the unit in charge of handling and distributing medical equipment and supplies, Aduoffei was able to minimize the down time of the medical equipment by having the parts and equipment sent directly to the maintenance Soldiers for repair.
"In previous times, the equipment needed to be shipped out of the area to be repaired and it would be out of commission for up to 30 days," Aduoffei said. "Now, everything can be fixed and back in service in only two days because the equipment is repaired and maintained internally."
"By repairing the equipment internally, the Army saves money, and it takes less time to get that equipment back into service, saving lives," Aduoffei said.
To continue his goal for his family, Aduoffei said he plans to take the leadership skills he learned in the Army back to Ghana.
"I want to bring the American spirit back to Ghana with me," said Aduoffei. "If you work hard and use your resources, you can be prosperous,"
| Date Taken: | 03.10.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 03.10.2008 10:16 |
| Story ID: | 17175 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 535 |
| Downloads: | 368 |
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