Photo By 1st Lt. Tucker Chase | U.S. Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Chanson Benjamin, right, a civil affairs noncommissioned...... read more read more
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VICENZA, Italy – When Chanson Benjamin started law school at the University of Minnesota, he never expected to trade his textbooks for civil affairs operations in Côte d’Ivoire.
For the last six months, this Twin Cities resident has stepped into a different kind of classroom, the streets and military briefing rooms of West Africa. There, he has interpreted French for U.S. Soldiers working with Côte d’Ivoire’s military counterparts, rather than interpreting case law.
U.S. Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Chanson Benjamin serves in Bravo Company, Civil Affairs Battalion, U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF). He is completing his first deployment in Côte d’Ivoire, having put his first year of law school on hold. While many law students intern at this point in their education, Benjamin has spent this year translating and advising as his team’s primary French interpreter.
Originally from Santa Cruz, California, Benjamin moved to Washington, D.C. for his undergraduate studies at George Washington University. In 2019, he felt a call to service and enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve.
He is the first in his family to join the military.
“I always thought it was a citizen’s duty to serve in uniform,” Benjamin said. “And so that’s what I did.”
After basic training, Benjamin moved to Minneapolis, which he now calls home. He worked for nearly two years as an emergency medical technician at the Abbott Northwestern Hospital emergency department, an experience that deepened his commitment to public service.
His military career began in psychological operations before he transitioned to civil affairs, which connects U.S. forces with local communities in an operating area. He first joined the 407th Civil Affairs Battalion, a U.S. Army Reserve unit in Arden Hills, Minnesota, that sent him to the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLI) to study French. He arrived at DLI with no prior French experience, but he fully embraced the challenge and graduated first in his class with a 4.0 GPA and a general professional proficiency rating.
“DLI takes you from nothing to fluency,” he said. “That’s what it’s intended to do, and that’s what it does.”
This specialized language training led to a pivotal opportunity. Recognizing a need for fluent speakers for missions in predominantly French-speaking African countries, the New Jersey-based 404th Civil Affairs Battalion selected Benjamin for its current deployment. Currently, he serves as the team’s interpreter, enabling direct communication and trust.
“It builds credibility with the partner force when one of our Soldiers speaks their language,” Benjamin said. “We’re willing to meet them where they are.”
That credibility matters when he conveys complex civil affairs concepts, keeping both sides aligned.
"We joke that ‘I’m the mouth.’" he said. "Almost every word to the partner force has been something that I translated.”
He understands the nuances of military operations, so he can translate complex doctrine and intent in ways a civilian interpreter might miss.
"If I’m translating an aspect of civil affairs doctrine, because I have the military knowledge, I can articulate it in a way an interpreter may not,” he said.
This unique ability ensures nothing is lost in translation.
While the deployment fulfilled a long-held goal, Benjamin looks forward to returning home to Minneapolis. He continues to stay connected to his academic life thanks to the support from the University of Minnesota, which let him take a legal writing course online while deployed.
Benjamin says he will miss sharing poulet braisé, the local braised chicken, with his team, but reuniting with his girlfriend and family tops the list of things to do once he gets home. He also looks forward to eating at his local pizzeria and resuming classes with a renewed perspective and more gratitude for his opportunities.
For others considering a similar path, he offers two pieces of advice.
"Proper prior planning prevents poor performance... training properly will pay off," Benjamin said. “[Second,] shoot your shot. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take."
For this Twin Cities native, pausing law school to deploy was a shot worth taking — one that advanced the U.S. Army’s mission abroad.
About SETAF-AF
SETAF-AF prepares Army forces, executes crisis response, enables strategic competition and strengthens partners to achieve U.S. Army Europe and Africa and U.S. Africa Command campaign objectives.
| Date Taken: | 09.18.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.19.2025 05:45 |
| Story ID: | 548497 |
| Location: | ABIDJAN, CI |
| Web Views: | 17 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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