Through The Generations, Poultens Answer The Call to Serve [VIDEO]

The Poulten family may have three generations of servicemembers, but don't call it a family tradition.

Lt. Col. (or "telephone colonel") Sam Poulten, the son of a World War II Navy veteran, prefers to call it a commitment to country. He joined the Army Medical Reserve Corps during the Vietnam era, even though he considered himself anti-war.

Now, Poulten's 34-year-old son Benari is serving in Afghanistan. It's his third deployment, having previously served at Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq.

"(My father) said that serving your country is not always in style but it's always necessary, and I would come to understand that later, and if I were opposed to the war I should find a way to serve in a way consistent with my beliefs," Sam Poulten said.

He was right, Poulten said.

"You need the armed forces and ... you should serve based on your talents. And if you don’t serve, someone serves in your place," he said.

Poulten, who graduated from Brandeis with a sociology degree in 1970, became committed to the reserve corps. He wasn't deployed until 1988, when he was sent to Hondouras, and after that Guatemala, and even el Salvador, all to participate in humanitarian relief efforts. Poulton was also part of the National Guard that responded to the Blizzard of 1978.

A New Generation

Benari Poulten joined the military in 1999 after he graduated from Brandeis with a double major in theatre and English.

"When I was in high school, (my father) tried to convince me that the Army Reserve could be a terrific way for me to pay for college and gain some valuable skills. I, of course, being a good teenager, strongly disagreed," he said.

But after some research, Benari reconsidered.

"I ... decided that I'd like to gain a broader perspective and maybe go in as a military journalist. I signed up the month after I graduated college - June of 1999.  I never told my folks that I was talking to a recruiter and I didn't tell my dad I was signing up until I had already decided to do it myself - I guess some things you just have to do on your own," he said.

Sept. 11, 2001

Both Sam and Benari Poulten remember the Sept. 11 attacks as a day that changed their lives.

Sam Poulten was teaching at Waltham High School when another teacher told him to turn on the TV.

"I saw the second plane it, and I told my students: my cell phone is going to ring in a few minutes and you should remember what you just witnessed. You probably heard your parents speak of where they were when they heard Kennedy had been shot or Pearl Harbor and you can tell everyone where you were on Sept. 11," he said.

He immediately packed for Ft. Devens and went on active duty.

Ground Zero

About a month later, Poulten had heard from a doctor at the World Trade Center who said volunteers would not stop working at the site. All the firefighters, police officers and New Jersey national guard weredetermined to find any remains possible in the rubble. 

Sam and Benari Poulten volunteered at Ground Zero for a weekend of guard duty. They both protected the perimeter of the World Trade Center and controlled the gathering crowds.

"The amount and extent of devastation, even today, I can't believe how big of an area had been impacted ... all the way around there was rubble and damage even though it was almost a month later," Sam Poulten said.

 Benari Poulten called the experience "surreal." He remembers sitting in the Trinity Church during a lunch break and the hundreds of cards that decorated the walls, thanking them for their service.

"I remember the one that brought tears to my eyes started with the line, 'I don't know who you are, but you're my hero...'  I didn't feel like a hero at all.  I was just doing a job, a job that needed to be done," said Benari Poulten. "It was the least I could do.  The people who gave their lives, the first responders, the people whose memories we were now trying to honor - these were the heroes, these were my heroes."

While the Poultens were at Ground Zero, workers had recovered the bodies of several firefighters and held an impromptu memorial for them.

Sam Poulten - who always travels with his bugle in the trunk of his car - played TAPS for the memorial.

"My father (played TAPS) around the crater that had once been the World Trade Center, amid the wreckage of the terrorist attacks, as a tattered flag flew from an extended fire truck ladder.  It was truly profound.  

And at that moment, we were not there to mourn their deaths.  We were there to honor their lives. We were there to celebrate their selfless service and their heroism. It remains one of the highest honors of my life to have been able to serve for that short period of time with the service members present, the NYPD troops and the NY Firefighters," Benari Poulten said.

Simultaneous Deployment

Benari Poulten was sent on his first deployment to Guantanamo Bay from Oct. 2002 to Oct. 2003, as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.  He started as a military broadcast journalist, a 46R. He's now a Sgt. 1st Class and a 46Z - which is a public affairs supervisor.

In 2003 to 2004, Sam Poulten served in Kuwait and Iraq. His wife, Gail, said he was in the thick of the fighting there.

"He'd call me and I'd hear bombs in the background," she said.

Poulten met his wife at a dance while they were in high school. They've been married for 39 years.

"We grew up together and you go through good times and bad times .... but you do it together, you make it. Deployment is tough, but when he left for Iraq, I wanted him to come home to the life he left. I didn’t want it to feel different," she said.

Though Sam and Gail Poulten have two other daughters, during those deployments, the older of the two had gotten married and the younger was in college. As a teacher, a wife, and a mother Gail Poulten still had to function in her day-to-day life.

"I think people don't understand how transformative going to war is and how difficult it is to come back into civilian life when you’ve seen that and how small our problems are ... every day in the military at war is critical you’re serving in a critical capacity every day," she said. "You never know when you’re going to get a soldier come to your door. You balance that fear with the determination that every day is a day closer to their coming home."

But Sam Poulten thinks his wife is the hero of the family.

"And the thing is, there are thousands of Gails all around the country," he said.

A Modern Military Family

In the time since Sam Poulten returned from Iraq, Benari Poulten also went on to serve in Iraq, from December 2008 to December 2009 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is currently on his third deployment in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

"Every time I speak to Benari we talk about how hot it is, he's very close to his nephews so we talk about things that make him happy and are normal," said his mother Gail. "You find that to this day he cannot talk about everything (he's been through.)"

"Mostly, I miss my family and friends. That's the hardest," said Benari Poulten. "...  Technology and the internet has helped close that gap - but just being apart is probably the most difficult thing."

Upon his return, depending on the time of year he gets home, Benari said he's looking forward to getting ice cream at and going to a Red Sox game.

Until that time, though, he most looks forward to every day's mail call.

"Getting care packages - sometimes from compete strangers - there's no other feeling like it. Knowing that we have that love and support, it helps us do what we need to do," said Benari Poulten. "And it's good to know that there are people back home fighting hard to make sure that we're taken care of when our mission is done."

Benari Poulten never thought the military would become such a huge part of his life.

"Yet, my entire family has a history of serving this country, of answering the nation's call when it was sounded.  My mother's father and my father's father, as well as my father - they all set an example for me, this idea of selfless service, of giving back.

I believe in the ideals of the American dream and I believe they are ideals worth fighting for.  I'm proud to be a small part of that legacy.  I continue to be inspired by those who have given their lives to make my life better and I hope that my small sacrifices have improved the lives of others," he said.