Mock prison gives MP trainees a taste of what they'll face

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH ^ | June 4, 2006 | Kim Bell

[ConservativeStatement]

FORT LEONARD WOOD, MO. — As curious as it might sound, in his 11th week of basic training, Army Pvt. Branden Nethken pulled on drab green coveralls and practiced the most convincing Arabic accent a Tennessee boy could muster.

His assignment for the morning, at the U.S. Army's first-ever mock detention facility, was to play the role of a disgruntled detainee captured in a war zone. Other soldiers in his company were dressed in combat gear, taking on the role of guards.

"They told us to act as if we didn't want to be here," Nethken, 19, said with a grin Friday. "They told us to annoy the guards. So I shouted, 'Go back to America.'"

[coconutt2000]

I've seen videos of some of these training exercises.

Every branch of our active services are being given training in dealing with situations that will be more common now that we're likely to be engaged in a lot of unconventional wars with unconventional enemy combatants.