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The War is Far from Over
• Margate City Planner Ben Ziskal is Logistics Planner in Iraq
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Sunday,
April 26, 2009
It’s easy to forget about the war. It’s not happening in your backyard and you read more about sports scores and weather everyday than you do about American men and women dying in the name of freedom. You wish it weren’t true, but it is and somebody has to do it.
What amounts to the largest call up in Florida State history, 4,000 National Guard troops prepare to ship off to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, uprooting thousands of American families and throwing mothers, fathers, cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters into the line of fire, as in recent days more than 150 people have been killed in Iraq, many of whom were praying or standing in line for food.
Margate City Planner and Staff Sergeant for the U.S. Air Force Reserve, Ben Ziskal, returned from Iraq last year after being called to serve in operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom from May to September. He went straight from re-zoning a South Florida city to Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar, flying soldiers and cargo in and out of war zones in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa. Ben didn’t lose anybody until the week he and his buddy were scheduled to return home. They used to play cards and eat at the mess together. His friend and fellow reservist didn’t make it, and died in the Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing September 20, 2008.
“My last mission was to get his body back to Germany and then to the states.”
Ziskal is a Logistics Planner for the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He graduated with a Bachelor’s in Urban Planning and Development from Ball State University in Indiana in 2003, but almost didn’t complete his degree because of his passion to join the military when the Twin Towers were attacked on 9/11.
“I was going to take time off to enlist, but was talked out of it by my parents.”
Upon graduation, Ziskal enlisted in the Air Force Reserve, “part civic duty and part family tradition,” he said, as both his dad and stepmom were retired Air Force. Originally from Michigan, Ziskal said his time in Iraq has given him a greater appreciation of what it means to have people in his life.
“After seeing soldiers miss a child being born or being separated shortly after being wed; it makes me cherish time with friends and family more and value what we have here in America. There’s no freedom anywhere in the world like here in the states.”
Ziskal said that most people think reservists are the last to go. Not true, he said. People often don’t know who the reservists are that live among them until they’re called off to war, he said. “I wear a shirt and tie to work, Ziskal says, “but as a reservist, I’m in the military 365 days a year.”
Ben compared his role in Iraq to his position in Margate. “When you need to make something happen in a war zone,” Ziskal said, “you have to bring all the elements together and make it happen,” which is a challenge he accepts as Margate City Planner, he said. Although things happen a bit slower in civilian life, city projects can’t come together unless everyone is on the same page.
At 27 years old, Ziskal feels as though he brings a youthful exuberance to his position as Margate City Planner. He looks forward to sustainable development in Margate, a pedestrian-friendly city and a vibrant downtown where people want to shop, dine and have fun.
Ziskal received a Joint Service Commendation Medal during his last tour. He said he undoubtedly will be called again to serve, probably when his rotation comes up again in 2010. There’s a shortage of logistics planners, said Ziskal, and he’s ready to go when called.
“It’s what I train to do.”
“An intrepid visionary, Sergeant Ziskal leveraged his civilian expertise as a City Planner and was instrumental in developing the design, staffing and vetting of a comprehensive Special Operations Command Central Base Master Plan for the AOR expediting the new concept into a workable and long term strategic asset that will be benchmarked for years to come…” reads Ziskal’s Commendation Citation.
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Copyright Cassius Group 2009
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