A day in the life...

... of a particular prison guard:

While that may be the schedule, it does not tell the full story of a guard’s day at Guantanamo Bay. To do that requires an understanding of something called the Battle Update Brief, better known as the BUB. The reason the word battle is used is because the detainees see the camps as an extension of the battlefield.

So do the guards.

The BUB is a daily briefing. It takes place in a room that is way too small, with no windows, and occasionally smells bad. There is a u-shaped table where the staff sits along the sides. At the end of the table sit the Joint Task Force Commander and Deputy Commander along with the Camp Commander and the Command Sergeant Major. One by one the cell block Navy Chiefs and Army Sergeants stand up and give a very clinical re-cap of the previous 24 hours. The detainees are referred to by number and their picture flashes on a screen as they are referenced.

What follows is a typical morning report at the BUB. Real names and real detainee numbers are not used. The term “rec” is short for recreation.

“Good morning sir, Chief Simmons Camp 6. We have 112 assigned, 112 present. Last night detainee 765 requested onions and parsley on his salad and requested to see the camp commander regarding his request. 844 wants a better detainee newsletter and 632 has requested a Bowflex machine because he says he is not getting enough of an upper body work out.

“We had 3 significant activities last night: 601 balled up feces and threw it at the guard hitting him in the chest saying next time he would hit him in the mouth. Next, as 155 was being taken to rec, he bit a guard on the arm until it bled. Detainee was not allowed rec and had comfort items removed. When asked why he did it, 155 just laughed. The guard was sent to medical where he is being evaluated. Finally, 767 yelled at female guard saying, ‘I am going to rape you. I am going to rape you. And when I get out of here I am going to kill you and your family.’ Sir, barring any questions, that concludes my report.”

Many may believe the above BUB report is exaggerated or hyperbole. It is not. It could have just as easily been a detainee demanding a lighter gray shirt because the dark gray shirt “hurts his gall bladder.” Or a detainee smearing feces on the walls of his cell. The guards refer to these detainees as “painters” or “poo-cassos.”

What occurs daily inside the wire is a bizarre mixture of the dangerous, the disgusting, and the absurd. And, despite urban legends and misperceptions, any mistreatment or abuse that goes on inside the camps is that of detainee-on-guard, not the reverse.

Here is the aftermath of the BUB.

Detainee 632 did not get his Bowflex machine. The guard who was bitten is fine. We are working on the parsley and onions request, but not too hard. The feces battles never end. In fact, the latest detainee tactic is to grow their fingernails long, put feces underneath the nails and then try to scratch a guard’s face.

Meanwhile, I happen to know the female guard who was verbally abused. Coincidentally we both went to Valley High in Albuquerque, N.M., albeit about 30 years apart. Still, we are both Vikings.

After the briefing, I saw this young soldier and said, “Hey Viking, I heard you had quite a night last night … are you OK?” She said, “Yes sir, I’m fine.”

I looked at her with some skepticism to see if what she was saying were true. What I saw in her eyes surprised me, but shouldn’t have. She really was fine. That detainee’s comments did not bother her in the least.

She is more than he will ever be and she is not alone. Rest assured if the guards at GTMO are any indication, the generation that is now coming of age will do its duty; they will defend our nation with courage, honor, and integrity. So don’t elevate the detainees to sainthood and don’t talk to me about unprofessional behavior, mistreatment or abuse at GTMO, because, frankly, I am more than a little sick of it.

— Brig. Gen. Gregory Zanetti is deputy commander of the Joint Task Force-GTMO.

Pass that along will ya? 

With a huge thanks to the good people at BlackFive.

Comments

[salvage]

Oooh so now I see why America needs to lock people up without due process indefinitely... they throw poo.

Yup, that certainly justifies crapping on the Constitution and international law.

[Mommynator]

Mr. Salvage returns to re-display his colossal ignorance once again.

One more time:

- The Geneva Conventions apply to combatants of COUNTRIES that sign the Geneva Conventions.

- The Constitution is for the United States of America, of which these people are not citizens or positive contributors.

- The detained feces lovers are not official warriors of any country, nor are they signatories of the Geneva Conventions.

- They have been proven to be terrorists, i.e., working to create havoc, death and destruction by any means possible.

- They are being treated humanely. The fact that they haven't had their brains bashed in as a reaction to their disgusting tactics is ample evidence.

- Such sympathy for criminals and none for honorable young men and women says more about Mr. Salvage's lack of understanding and humanity and sense of right and wrong than it does about the Gitmo guards.

Try again.

[salvage]

- The Geneva Conventions apply to combatants of COUNTRIES that sign the Geneva Conventions.

That’s nice. Did you know there are other international laws other than the GC?

Furthermore do you spurn the spirit of those laws? If so I can understand you being pedantic about it but if you think those laws just why shouldn't they apply? Are you telling me Nazis deserve rights that terrorists don't? You do understand that the Nazis killed far more than any terrorist ever has right?

- The Constitution is for the United States of America, of which these people are not citizens or positive contributors.

You do not understand your own Constitution. It’s laws are universal and apply to citizens and non alike, anyone on American soil is under its protection.

And again isn't the Constitution something that should apply to everyone? Or are only Americans so privileged?

- The detained feces lovers are not official warriors of any country, nor are they signatories of the Geneva Conventions.

So that means they have no human rights! So anything can be done to them? Well why not just shoot them in the head and dump them off the coast of Cuba then?

- They have been proven to be terrorists, i.e., working to create havoc, death and destruction by any means possible.

Really? Now how was that proven? Call me old fashioned but doesn’t it usually take a trial to prove things? Law and order? Due process? Evidence? Would it shock you to learn that many people have been released without any charges at all? That the only case against them was nothing?

- They are being treated humanely. The fact that they haven't had their brains bashed in as a reaction to their disgusting tactics is ample evidence.

Ah, so because they’re not being beaten it’s okay to keep them in jail for the rest of their lives without any trial? Don’t you think that’s a sort of torture?

- Such sympathy for criminals and none for honorable young men and women says more about Mr. Salvage's lack of understanding and humanity and sense of right and wrong than it does about the Gitmo guards.

And you know they’re criminals how again?

Yes, I’m the one who doesn’t understand right and wrong and humanity. You’re happy to keep people locked up for their lives because someone somewhere said that they were bad.

Oh and they look bad, they look like terrorists, they pray to a terrorist god that's all the proof you need huh?

[Morgan K Freeberg]

You do not understand your own Constitution. It’s laws are universal and apply to citizens and non alike, anyone on American soil is under its protection.

Um...no, it's laws are not universal.

Where do you get this stuff?

[tim]

Come on guys it’s not like we’ve let any detainees out and they’ve done anything bad. No, no, no…

I’m sure they’re all innocent, just happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. I’m sure we’ve all been there, hanging out with Ishmael, al Qaeda manual in one hand an AK47 in the other, some C4 in our pocket, minding our own business…and bam! Uncle Sam, the government, the man tosses you in prison. No? Guess, that was only me.

Let’s at least try and get into the spirit. Say it now with me - God damn America! Rinse, repeat…

[Rick]

You do not understand your own Constitution. It’s laws are universal and apply to citizens and non alike, anyone on American soil is under its protection.

That does it for me.

We now have proof positive that we're dealing with a completely ignorant person.

Completely.

[salvage]

The Constitution protects everyone on American soil the Founding Fathers made that clear from the Deceleration forward.

But I take it you think that only American deserve it, that all others should not have the rights granted? How far? So if someone isn't an American citizen they can be tortured and jailed indefinitely?

So what's the point of invading Iraq for Freedom! I wonder? That's how Saddam rolled and you seem pretty cool with it.