NACO, Honduras - Two officers who met each other eight years ago at the U.S. Army Engineer Officer Basic Course at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. have finally crossed paths once again, this time in Honduras.
Honduran Capt. Sergio Israel Ballesteros, a member of the 1st Engineer Battalion from Honduras, was given the rare opportunity to attend the EOBC in the U.S. where he first met Army Capt. Juan Valencia, a member of Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 1140th Engineer Battalion, 35th Engineer Brigade.
"I speak fluent Spanish," Valencia said. "So I became Ballesteros' sponsor. I worked with him to try to answer any questions he might have, I was his study partner, and I showed him the ropes of the system and helped introduce him to American culture."
The course had approximately 80 service members attending, and several of them were from other countries. Honduras received one seat.
"It's a unique thing when foreign officers come to the courses," Valencia said. "Honduras gets maybe one slot every five years for EOBC. The soldier is highly recommended and shows high potential in leadership. The foreign officers also have to pass an English language test to attend the course."
Ballesteros was welcomed in the course and learned a lot of useful information to bring back to Honduras, he said.
"The way the U.S. Army treated me as a foreign student was outstanding," Ballesteros said. "They treated me like I was a top priority. They were patient with me and all the other foreign students. We were taught the U.S. Army standard so we could bring it back to our countries."
Shortly after the course ended Valencia deployed to Iraq and the two officers eventually lost track of each other.
"Valencia has written a couple of books," Ballesteros said. "Even though we were out of contact, I read his book 'Coffee Aroma.'"
Now a battle captain for Beyond the Horizon 2012 Honduras, Valencia is working with Ballesteros on a civil-military exercise that is dedicated to working together with Hondurans to provide humanitarian and engineering assistance.
"It's great; it's a great experience," Valencia said. "I found out Ballesteros would be here and looked forward to seeing him again. It's great seeing him."
For Ballesteros, the feeling is mutual.
"I'm happy to see him again," Ballesteros said. "I knew he was coming here and wish I had been at the airport to greet him. I was on a special mission so I couldn't pick him up, but he's going to be around for awhile so we'll have plenty of time to work together."
Beyond the Horizon Honduras is an Army South exercise deploying military engineers and medical professionals to Honduras for training, while providing services to rural communities. U.S. Army engineers working with host nation personnel are building medical clinics and schoolhouses for the local Hondurans.
"This is an outstanding exercise," Ballesteros said. "It's outstanding because they are constructing the projects from the beginning to the end. The service members came from far away and so we feel like a lucky country."
Before Valencia returns home to Missouri, he hopes to have an opportunity to meet Ballesteros' family like Ballesteros was able to meet his family eight years ago.