Major Wisconsin Guard operation ends as last detainee leaves Bucca

The Army announced this afternoon that the final 186 detainees have been moved out of Camp Bucca today. Several units of Wisconsin National Guard soldiers had been operating Bucca's detention facilities.
Several Wisconsin units continue working on other missions at Bucca.
--Steve

Detainee count is down to 9,000, fewer than 1,000 at Bucca

One of the main jobs of Wisconsin National Guard troops in Iraq is "detainee ops," running military detention camps at camps Bucca, Taji and Cropper.

Under an agreement with Iraq, detainees are being released or turned over to the Iraqi government. Several news agencies are reporting a milestone has been reached.

Fewer than 9,000 detainees remain under U.S. military control, down from 27,000 in 2007, according to a statement released by the military yesterday.
Of those, 3,572 are held at Cropper, 4,585 are at Taji, and 790 are held at Bucca, once the largest detention center in the world. Wisconsin National Guard soldiers have been moving the prisoners out of Bucca.

Iraq officials maintain control over who the U.S. releases from detention camps. U.S. troops are in charge of guarding and transporting detainees, after the Iraq government makes its decision. So it wasn't a reflection on U.S. troops when, in an AP report that came out Sunday, an unnamed Iraqi investigator claimed that the suicide bomber in the deadly Aug. 19 attack on the Iraqi Foreign Ministry in Baghdad had been released from Camp Bucca.

Will the released detainees reignite sectarian fighting? One of the Iraq experts at the Army War College Strategic Studies Institute says much of the answer lies with the Iraq government.

- Steve

AFP photo - A U.S. soldier helps an Iraqi
prisoner disembark from a bus prior to his
release in Baghdad's al-Dora district in April.

Bucca units move detainees outside the wire

Spc. Andrew Alexander, Fond du Lac, scans the roads from the gunner's turret of a Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle. Army photos by Spc. Tyler Lasure.



A little more information has trickled out about the changing missions of some Wisconsin National Guard soldiers who were deployed to run detention camps at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq.

The State Journal first reported on July 29 that some units were transporting detainees out of the Bucca detention centers, which are scheduled to be closed soon. During a press conference, Col. Steven Bensend, top commander of 3,300 Wisconsin National Guard soldiers in Iraq, downplayed the hazards of the missions, noting that personnel in bases also face threats, for example from explosives fired from a distance. Bensend also said insurgents attack larger-scale targets more often than transport operations.

After the press conference a National Guard spokesman said Bensend would not elaborate on the missions. Yesterday, the Army distributed a press release about the operations, which are being undertaken by Janesville's Company A, 132nd Brigade Support Battalion, and Fond du Lac's Company C, 2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry.

When the detainees are finally loaded onto buses at the end of the day, Charlie Company takes charge. The desert sun is already setting when soldiers perform the last pre-combat checks on their Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected (MRAP) vehicles. They shovel down a meal, load their weapons and roll out. It is going to be a long night, and everything needs to go right.

Charlie Company provides security for the convoy from Bucca to a military flight line. Attacks on the convoy aren't the only thing these soldiers need to prepare for; should a disturbance occur on a busload of detainees, the soldiers would be required to restore order.

Camp Bucca, once the largest detainee facility in the world, is being emptied and converted to other uses. Under an agreement with Iraq, the U.S. military is relinquishing control of thousands of detainees. Detainees typically are taken to Camp Cropper, the central booking facility for U.S. military detainees, for release or transfer to Iraqi custody, the Army has said.
-Steve

I'm heading home to care for Carter after car crash hurt his mom

From Sgt. Robert Grinage of Rice Lake, Wisconsin. He is stationed 6,646 miles from home at Camp Bucca, Iraq.

When I was on leave last month my handsome son was born. His name is Carter Matthew Laursen. He is my little trooper. The mother of Carter is Jaci Laursen. She is a great mother.

But at this time she is hospitalized because she was in a serious car accident. As of now the military is sending me home, to care for my son while the mother of my child goes through surgeries. I ask all to pray for Jaci and the Laursen family as they they are under this hard time in the family's life.

As this has been going on I have been receiving pictures of my little trooper. It is a true statement when parents say: "Children will change your life." I am 10,000 miles away and i can totally tell that statement is true.

It is hard watching your child grow up through pictures. But in the same time, it's like Christmas every day I receive them. I would like to thank both families of my son. Without them my son would never know who I am till I come home. Thanks guys. Jaci get better soon, my prayers are with you.

- Robert

Rhyming the time away in Iraq

From PFC. Junior Buchanan of Madison, who is 6,415 miles from home serving in a Wisconsin National Guard unit at Camp Cropper, Iraq.

I came with the 32nd and I'm doing detainee ops just like the rest. I was deployed right after completion of my AIT (Advanced Individual Training). I was only home for 5 or 6 days before going on orders. I didn't know till the last minute that I was getting deployed -- kinda sucked but i cooperated with it. It was hard, but it's part of the job I guess.

I have been writing my own music since I was about 12 or 13 with my cousins. Writing music helps make my time here pass faster and a little more enjoyable. My family has a lot of musical talent in it -- singing and also hip hop (rap) and dancing.

Thank you for taking interest in my songs. I love what I do and take pride in making it sound good. I was on active duty orders before I joined the guard. did basic AIT and now Iraq. When I get home for good I would have been back and forth only spending a week or two or a few days at home for about a year and 6 months.

- Junior

Detainee ops clip, by request

Some readers have had trouble openining the detainee ops video on the official site, so we've uploaded here for your convenience.

Worst kept secret revealed

The above photo, provided by the U.S. military, was not taken at today's press conference with Wisconsin National Guard Col. Steven Bensend.

At today's press conference, Col. Steven Bensend did manage to commit some news, confirming that Wisconsin troops have been transporting detainees from Bucca, and then resuming their detainee ops mission at Taji.
The colonel also said that Wisconsin National Guard troops are well protected for their jouneys outside the wire, and he said officers including himself also venture out into the countryside.
Read the State Journal story.

It's hard to find the news conference clips on the DVIDS site. The clips get a little lost in all the photos of Angelina Jolie.
Here is perhaps a better link if you want to watch the press conference.

Click here for coverage of Angelina Jolie.

-Steve

Your prayers please

Soon we'll be launching this blog and you will read actual words written by Wisconsin soldiers. Some logistical problems are holding us up.

Meanwhile the troops are hard at work.
A major part of the mission of the 32nd IBCT - Wisconsin's Red Arrow - is guarding detainees while they are sorted out for release, transfer or prosecution in Iraqi courts.
Radio Free Europe offers this update:

Under the bilateral Iraqi-U.S. Strategic Framework Agreement that came into effect January 1, all Iraqis in U.S. custody are to be released or transferred to Iraqi Security Force custody before the United States withdraws from the country by the end of 2011.

The number still in detention late last month was about 10,800, down considerably since November 2007, when 26,121 Iraqis were in U.S. custody for acts against American forces or violations of Iraq's security laws, according to statistics from ...

Here's the part of the article that interested me as a journalist working with military personnel.

"It's strange that people like murderers are considered low threat," says 2nd Lieutenant Brent Beadle, a liaison officer for Iraqi Security Forces with the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, in northeast Baghdad. "If these guys are 'Green' releases" -- those considered unlikely to offend again -- "I'd hate to think what the 'Red' list looks like."

"There are people in this group that were charged with resisting arrest, assault on coalition forces, kidnapping, extortion, obstruction, weapons trafficking, intimidation, and sectarian murder," Beadle says.

Is 2nd Lt. Beadle out of line?
Is he wearing the uniform and representing the U.S. DOD with his statement that U.S. DOD policy looks "strange" to him?
I'd say it's entirely clear that he's expressing a personal opinion about something he's observed, something he "owns."
But his CO could say he's commenting on foreign policy, maybe even undermining it.

I'm not saying that's right or wrong.
I'm just saying put 2nd Lt. Beadle in your prayers tonight.

- Steve