Military Police contains information about military police functions in maneuver and mobility support, area security, law and order, internment/resettlement, and police intelligence operations.
Issue link: https://militarypolice.epubxp.com/i/484012
MILITARY POLICE
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needs to receive food, exchange a water bottle, or be issued
books or comfort items. Beyond the physical burdens of the
operation, the guards endure mental stress on a daily basis.
Upon entry to the detention facility, Soldiers replace their
names with numeric identifers. This is an outward sign of
the mental preparation that takes place and a reminder that
the facility is not a place for casual conversation; rather, it
is a battlefeld extension that houses enemy combatants.
Detainees seek to gather additional information about the
physical layout of the detention facility, standard operat-
ing procedures, the guard force, and personnel routines and
habits. They conduct mission analyses in preparation for at-
tacks on the guard force. Throughout the years of detention
facility operation, detainees have used a broad spectrum
of tactics to target and physically assault the guard force.
Splashing—or throwing a mixture of blood, urine, feces, se-
men, and other on the guard force—remains a daily
threat. The ability to bite, kick, punch, or do anything else
to wound an American Soldier is considered a success to the
detainees.
Detainees attempt to wear out the guard force with inces-
sant yelling and banging on steel cell doors. The ability to
endure a 12-hour shift of this boisterous behavior requires
prodigious patience from young guard Soldiers. In addition,
the guards are often subjected to severe verbal abuse that
targets their race, ethnicity, or gender and to familial misin-
formation dispensed by detainees to provoke a reaction from
the guards. Furthermore, detainees consistently attempt to
manipulate the guard force into making the conditions of
confnement more comfortable and to gain leverage for fu-
ture requests. It is diffcult to convey the level of restraint
and composure required of the guards for the success of
the mission. The Soldiers are berated and assaulted by de-
tainees, yet must provide for their needs while remaining
consummate professionals. Although the detention facility
seems noisy and chaotic, NCOs uphold the standards and
ensure that detainees—regardless of their conduct—are
treated with dignity and respect.
Just as Army leaders maintain a persistent presence,
there are leaders within the group of detainees who "will
threaten or coerce less susceptible detainees to support their
goals and objectives . . . by encouraging the use of destabili-
zation techniques to incite riots or to other detain-
ees not to cooperate and disobey rules."
3
These leaders were
skilled in fghting a counterinsurgency—and their skills did
not diminish when they left the battlefeld. They are still
combatants, and they still use information operations; psy-
chological operations; and tactics, techniques, and proce-
dures to remain in the fght and attempt to discredit the
United States. One of the effective means that insurgents
use to undermine and erode political will is the portrayal of
their opposition as untrustworthy or illegitimate. These at-
tacks work especially well when insurgents can depict their
opposition as unethical by the opposition's own standards.
Detainees frequently target the transparency of JTF GTMO
to media outlets to attempt a strategic-level information
operations campaign. They consistently create signs, shout
protests, and try to bring discredit to operations.
Soldiers understand that the decisions they make at the
facility can have second- and third-order effects beyond their
control. They realize that "the activities that occur within
the realm of detention do not always remain within the
confnes of the restricted area, but can have a profound ef-
fect on public support and the overall theater-wide [coun-
terinsurgency] effort."
4
Military police Soldiers assigned
to JTF GTMO shape the conditions for operations around
the world. The potential scope of impact, coupled with de-
tainee noncompliance, places signifcant mental strain on
the guard force. Guard force members expand their profes-
sional knowledge base and master working with joint, inter-
agency, and nongovernmental organizations that Soldiers
at their level of responsibility rarely experience. But DOD
senior leaders, congressional delegates, and foreign delega-
tions who have visited the facility have indicated that "it
was enormously satisfying to see how well run the facility
was."
5
Those Soldiers who are deployed to Guantanamo are
warriors—professionals inside the wire who represent their
country with honor. Their experience will add value to Army
formations.
Endnotes:
1
Eugenia Guilmartin, "PMG6 Hosts Detainee Operations
Senior Leader Conference With Nigerian Army," 18 April 2014,