Posted on 02/10/2005 4:44:06 AM PST by cll
FORT BUCHANAN, Puerto Rico - (KRT) - After taking over for the guards at the center of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, Army Sgt. Jaime Rodriguez says he can understand how things went wrong.
"I don't blame those guys," said Rodriguez, whose island-based unit returned to Puerto Rico on Wednesday. "It was crazy. There weren't that many of us, and there was a whole bunch of them.
"They should have known right from wrong. But when we got there, we were dealing with 12-hour shifts, we didn't have that much personnel, and at the beginning we didn't get too much support."
Arriving at this Army garrison before dawn Wednesday, 60 beaming members of the 301st Military Police Co. filed off a motor coach and into the arms of tearful family and friends. The soldiers had spent a year in Iraq.
"I'm so glad that he's alive," said Yamira Roman, wife of Spec. Marcos Cancel. Their 2-year-old daughter, Yarianie, held a sign in Spanish thanking God for bringing him home.
About 1,100 Army reservists are returning to Puerto Rico this month from Iraq and elsewhere. Roughly 2,200 Reserve and National Guard troops from this Caribbean U.S. territory remain deployed.
"It has been a long year," said Brig. Gen. Jose Rosado, commander of the Army Reserve here. "These guys and gals have been exposed to a lot of danger."
The soldiers who returned Wednesday were at the Abu Ghraib complex outside Baghdad last year when reports that members of the unit they replaced had physically mistreated and sexually humiliated detainees brought international attention to their mission.
Pvt. Charles Graner of the Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Co., described as the ringleader of the abuse, was convicted in January and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Six other members of the unit have pleaded guilty; two more are facing trial.
The 301st Military Police Co. has not been accused in the abuse, which took place before unit members arrived. "We had to fix everything," Sgt. Yazmin Valdez said. "They did great," said Lt. Jose Massanet, a platoon leader who took command of the company after Capt. Elmer Rivera was wounded in a mortar attack. "They cleaned up the problem that was created and restored the good name of the military police."
Cancel said the soldiers treated the detainees humanely. "That's a real fact," he said. "I knew their names and they knew my name. I showed them pictures of my daughter."
When they did not want their talk picked up by the detainees, some of whom understood English, the Puerto Ricans spoke Spanish.
Rodriguez described the pressure on the troops, who also guarded terror suspects at Camp Vigilant and helped to transport detainees between facilities. "We had it from the media, from the detainees, from the terrorists," he said. "There was always bombing, with mortars, RPGs and rockets."
Soldiers described daily attacks on the compound. For many, it was their first experience in combat. "One thing is what you see in movies, and another thing is the reality," Massanet said. "When a mortar is coming, you don't hear it. You only hear it when it detonates."
Company members earned a total of seven Purple Hearts for wounds sustained in combat, but there were no fatalities.
"That's the best part about coming home, bringing everyone back safely," said 1st Sgt. Juan Marin. Units from the island have suffered 12 deaths since the start of the war. The number of mainland soldiers of Puerto Rican descent killed in action is not known. Islanders traditionally have volunteered for military service in robust numbers, despite being unable to elect the president, senators or congressmen. As on the U.S. mainland, residents here are divided over the war in Iraq and the participation of their soldiers in it.
For at least some soldiers who returned on Wednesday, the national elections in Iraq on Jan. 30 made a fitting end to their deployment.
"It felt much more complete, knowing that we were a part of history," Rodriguez said.
The turnout and results of the election still are being determined.
"Just seeing those people in line makes you think," said Rosado, the Reserve commander. "It convinces me that what we're doing out there is the right thing to do. "They're freedom fighters. They helped to secure freedom for people who never had any. We have to be grateful to them."
Does this unit work at Guantanamo, do you know?
There are several MP battalions on the island, both Reserve and National Guard. Some have been at Gitmo, although I'm not sure if the 301st has.
They were so understaffed they could set aside people to act as lookouts and cameramen.
It was so dangerous and taxing that they let a half dozen prisoners out of their cells to form a human pyramid. Does this make sense?
They were so stressed they decided to humiliate the people they were guarding. They they would have to guard men who not only hated them, but were now enraged.
IMHO they were inadequately supervised. Humans with absolute power over other human beings tend to exploit the situation. The people running the prison should be found derelict in their duties. That's you, Gen. Karpinski.
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