CPT Ben Sklaver; someone you should know

Republished from last year;

MCPO NYC USN (Ret.) sends us information on a friend who was killed on October 2, 2009 by the name of CPT Ben Sklaver. Apparently he was killed by one of those “insiders”.

Here’s his bio from FEMA Region II where he began employment just a few weeks before his last deployment;

Ben Sklaver joined FEMA Region II as the Deputy Preparedness Analysis and Planning Officer assigned to the National Preparedness Division on March 30, 2009.

Prior to being selected for the FEMA position, Ben spent six years as a program analyst with the International Emergency and Refugee Health Branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. In this position, Ben served as an emergency programs coordinator responsible for oversight and synchronization of complex international relief efforts. He managed more than $5m in annual CDC grants, contracts and agreements with private and public organizations involved in international disaster response.

While at CDC, Ben provided technical support on demographics and public health to United Nations agencies including the World Food Program, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and UNICEF. He has participated in disaster response operations and training events in Thailand, Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, Chad, Bosnia, Ethiopia, Vietnam and El Salvador. Ben also led the CDC public health emergency response team under ESF #8 in Dallas, TX following hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

Ben currently serves as a Captain in the U.S. Army Reserves, assigned to the 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion in Greensboro, NC. From 2006 – 2007 he deployed in support of the Global War on Terrorism as a Civil Affairs team leader, mentoring Ugandan military forces to secure areas of northern Uganda controlled by the rebel Lords Resistance Army.

In 2007 Ben founded and currently serves as the director of “ClearWater Initiative”, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing clean water to conflict-affected communities in eastern Africa.

Ben holds a Masters degree in International Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (2003) as well as a Bachelor of Arts from Tufts (1999).

Ben is a native of New Haven, Connecticut.

He founded a non-profit organization Called Clearwater Initiative;

“While he was in Uganda, he believed so strongly in what they were doing that he wanted to continue the work they were doing and they started a small nonprofit,” called ClearWater Initiative, Laura Sklaver said.

A letter on the company Web site, clearwaterinitiative.org, from the Ugandan village of Apookeni thanks the man they call “Moses Ben” for bringing a clean water supply to the people.

“It doesn’t cost very much money, $1,000 or $2,000, to build a well … that supports a village for an indefinite period. That’s what he loved to do,” Laura Sklaver said.

Since the other day was the third anniversary of his murder, it’s probably most appropriate that we remember him and his good works today and keep him and his family in our hearts everyday.

Category: Real Soldiers