News : Area soldier is stationed near former Osama bin Laden hiding place

When Iowa National Guard Sgt. Breandan Fank of rural Vinton sat at his military base Saturday night (Iowa time) speaking with his girlfriend, Kosy Brown at the Vinton-Shellsburg Prom via Skype, he was sitting just a few miles from where Osama bin Laden was known to hide.

Breandan is stationed in Gamberi, Afghanistan, which is close to the city of Jalalabad. President Barack Obama announced on Sunday night that Bin Laden was killed in a firefight with U.S. soldiers in Pakistan. Jalalabad, nearl the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, was a known occasional hiding place for the terrorist leader, who had a compound near there that was destroyed by U.S. air strikes during the early days of the war on terror in 2001.

"Right now, my heart's like really beating," said Breandan's mom, Dixie. "This whole thing with Osama makes me nervous, knowing where Breandan's at, and wondering if things there are going to get out of control."

Dixie Fank said she believes Breandan, who recently made Sergeant, has been involved in rebuilding efforts, rather than in armed conflict.

"He is living among the Afghanis; he often goes out and sees the kids there," she said.

However, she said the April 16 suicide bombing by a man wearing an Afghan army uniform happened in the building next to Breandan's.

"It really hit him hard because he had to help clean up the bodies," said Dixie. "But he did not say much about it to us, or to Kosy (his girlfriend). He just did the Army thing: You take care of it and move on."

Sgt. Fank joined the Iowa National Guard 334th Red Bulls. Part of that unit, including Breandan, was assigned to serve with the 133rd, which left for Afghanistan last August and expects to return to Iowa this summer.