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Deployed local soldier to be promoted
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Posted on Jul 03 2005
It’s been about six months since Captain Franklin R. Babauta last set foot on Saipan, and while serving his country in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the brave company commander of Echo company, 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry recently received positive news.
According to a statement, Babauta received an email from his wife Celina also a year to the date he received the phone call informing him that he and his company would be called up to active duty.
In her email, Celina Babauta informed her husband that he has been selected for promotion to the rank of major effective June 28, 2005. The selection was made known through a report published by the Human Resources Command in St. Louis, Missouri.
“I am happy to receive the good news from my wife back home,” the promoted soldier said in the statement. “I look forward to serving the United States Army with pride as I complete my tour in Iraq and in keeping with the standards and responsibilities that come along with the rank.”
During his holiday visit to Saipan last December, Babauta explained that being a soldier is not a job that one may take up and put down at pleasure.
“It’s a calling,” he said. “A calling that some may not understand. When we are ‘in the box’ many times we will be tempted to quit when we find ourselves hard pressed against the walls of our own mental and physical limitations.”
He went on to explain that with continued support, the troops will remain firm in accomplishing their mission.
“We will scale those walls and move on to the next challenge,” he said. “This after all is the life of a soldier, a life of beating barriers and going through obstacles to get the mission done no matter how difficult the going may be.” (Shan Seman)
