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A Touch of Home
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This is how I think of the USO Canteen
Freeper Style. It is like a cottage down a road,
a place where a weary veteran can spend the night.
Since it opened, it is magical how so many
Freepers who post here, feel it too.
It has been so dear how the Freepers
kept making it a cottage - a home-type of
place that had a huge living room
for them to visit in and a dance floor,
a library, etc.
Many Veterans have written to me,
saying that the Canteen is like home
to them for the first time since they
served.
This is your Canteen -
a respite from our busy
and sometimes troubling world.
Make yourself at home.
Snow Bunny
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If you know a Veteran, someone in your family,
friend of the family, neighbor, who served their
country, take a brief moment of your day to thank
them.
Thank them for the sacrifice they made
for the better good of their country.
We at Free Republic, and the USO Canteen FReeper
Style, are thankful for every service member
in our military, who has served our great nation.
So, to the men and women who answered the call,
In both times of war and peace, thank you.
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Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
John McCrae
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Anti-Terrorism Detainee Operations Mission
U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay
is the oldest U.S. base overseas
and the only one in a Communist
country. Located on the southeast
corner of Cuba, in the Oriente Province,
the base is about 400 air miles
from Miami, Florida.
In December 1903, the United States
leased the 45 square miles of land and
water for use as a coaling station. A treaty
reaffirmed the lease in 1934 granting Cuba
and her trading partners free access through
the bay, payment of $2,000 in gold per year,
equating to $4,085 today, and a requirement
that both the U.S. and Cuba must mutually
consent to terminate the lease.
Diplomatic relations with Cuba were cut
in 1961 by President Dwight Eisenhower.
At this time, many Cubans sought refuge
on the base. U.S. Marines and Cuban
militiamen began patrolling opposite sides
of the base's 17.4 mile fenceline. Today,
U.S. Marines and Cuba's "Frontier Brigade"
still man fenceline posts 24 hours a day.
In October 1962, family members of service
people stationed here and many base
employees were evacuated to the United
States as President John F. Kennedy
announced the presence of Soviet missiles
in Cuba. This was the start of the Cuban
Missile Crisis which resulted in a naval
quarantine of the island until the Soviet Union
removed the missiles. The evacuees were
allowed to return to the base by Christmas 1962.
Another crisis arose just 14 months later
on Feb. 6, 1964, when Castro cut off water
and supplies to the base in retaliation for
several incidents in which Cuban fishermen
were fined by the U.S. government for fishing
in Florida waters. Since then, Guantanamo
Bay has been self-sufficient and the Naval Base
desalination plant produces 3.4 million gallons
of water and more than 800,000 kilowatt hours
of electricity daily.
The base is divided into two distinct areas by
the 2 1/2 mile-wide Guantanamo Bay. The
airfield is located on the Leeward side and the
main base is on the Windward side. Ferry
service provides transportation across the bay.
The primary mission of Guantanamo Bay is to
serve as a strategic logistics base for the
Navy’s Atlantic Fleet and to support counter
drug operations in the Caribbean.
In 1991, the naval base's mission expanded
as some 34,000 Haitian refugees passed through
Guantanamo Bay. The refugees fled Haiti after a
violent coup brought on by political and social
upheaval in their country. The naval base
received the Navy Unit Commendation and
Joint Meritorious Unit Award for its effort.
In May 1994, Operation Sea Signal began
and the naval base was tasked to support
Joint Task Force 160, here providing
humanitarian assistance to thousands of
Haitian and Cuban migrants. In late August
and early September 1994, 2,200 family
members and civilian employees were
evacuated from the base as the migrant
population climbed to more than 45,000
and the Pentagon began preparing to house
up to 60,000 migrants on the base.
The last Haitian migrants departed here
Nov. 1, 1995. The last of the Cuban migrants
left the base Jan. 31, 1996. In October 1995,
family members were authorized to return,
marking an end to family separations. An
immediate effort began to restore base facilities
for family use, including a child development
center, a youth center, two schools and Sunday
A school. Additionally, the revitalization of Boy
and Girl Scout Camps and the Guantanamo
Bay Youth Activities (a free sports program
for children) was enacted.
Since Sea Signal, Guantanamo Bay has
retained a migrant operations mission
with an ongoing steady state migrant
population of approximately 40. The
base has also conducted two contingency
migrant operations: Operation Marathon
in October 1996 and Present Haven in February
1997. Both of these short-fused events
involved the interception of Chinese migrants
being smuggled into the United States.
After 52 years of service, Guantanamo's Fleet
Training Group relocated to Mayport, Florida, in
July 1995. One month later, the naval base lost
another major tenant command when the
base's Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activity
disestablished after 92 years of service here.
The Naval Base includes, as separate
commands, a Naval Hospital and Branch
Dental Clinic, detachments of the Personnel
Support Activity, Naval Atlantic Meteorologic and
Oceanographic Command, Naval Media Center,
Naval Communications Station, Department of
Defense Dependent Schools and a Navy Brig.
Directly supporting the base as departments of
Naval Station are Naval Criminal Investigative
Service, Resident Officer in Charge of Construction,
Human Resources Office, Family Support and
Service Center, Red Cross, Security and Navy
Exchange/Commissary.
Al Qaeda Prisoners At Camp X-Ray
To identify the camps, a name was
designated to each to correspond with
the phonetic alphabet used for official
military "radio" communication (Camp
Alpha, Camp Bravo up to Camp Golf).
When additional sites were established
on the north side of the base, camp names
were designated using the opposite end of
the alphabet, to include Camp X-Ray.
As of February 19, 2002, Camp X-Ray
was the only camp site on the northern side
of the U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay
and was being used as a temporary
detention facility.
Following the events of September 11, 2001,
the military operations in Afghanistan and the
ensuing captures of numerous Al Qaida and
Taliban individuals, a decision was made to
transfer a number of detainees to the facility.
The base was to serve as a temporary holding
facility for Al Qaeda, Taliban and other
detainees that come under U.S. control
during the war on terrorism.
The U.S. Southern Command was in charge
of the operation and activated Joint Task
Force-160 (JTF-160) to head the detainee
operations. The task force included active
duty service members from Fort Hood, TX;
Fort Campbell, KY.; Roosevelt Roads, P.R.;
Camp Lejeune; Norfolk, VA; Dover AFB, DE,
and Charleston AFB, SC. Reserve component
personnel were to also deploy on this mission.
Military Police personnel were to make up
the bulk of JTF-160.
The first detainees arrived at Camp X-Ray January 11, 2000
Among the items detainees receive
are soap, a toothbrush, toothpaste,
shampoo, a foam sleeping mat, two
blankets, a prayer cap and a Koran.
U.S. Army Pfc. Jodi Smith watches from
the outer perimeter as detainees in orange
jumpsuits sit in a holding area in Camp X-Ray
at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during
in-processing to the temporary detention facility
on Jan. 14,2002
The detainees will be given a
basic physical exam by a doctor,
to include a chest x-ray and blood
samples drawn to assess
their health.
DoD photo by Petty Officer 1st
class Shane T. McCoy, U.S. Navy.
U.S. Army Military Police escort a detainee
to his cell in Camp X-Ray at Naval Base
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during in-processing
to the temporary detention facility on
Jan. 11, 2002. The detainees are being given
a basic physical exam by a doctor, to include
a chest x-ray and taken and blood samples
drawn to assess their health. DoD photo by
Petty Officer 1st class Shane T. McCoy, U.S. Navy.
Detainees in orange jumpsuits sit in a
holding area under the watchful eyes
of Military Police at Camp X-Ray at
Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,
during in-processing to the temporary
detention facility on Jan. 11, 2002. The
detainees will be given a basic physical
exam by a doctor, to include a chest x-ray and blood samples drawn to assess their health.
DoD photo by Petty Officer 1st class
Shane T. McCoy, U.S. Navy.
Security teams stand guard at their positions during a
rehearsal on Thursday, January 10, 2002 for handling
incoming detainees. (U.S. Navy handout)
A sign reading "direction," written in Arabic,
on the northeastern-most guard tower at Camp X-Ray.
The sign is intended to show detainees the direction
of Mecca. (U.S. Navy handout)
When taken to interrogation, a detainee's head is
forced down by a guard "so he can't make a plan."
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