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Foxtrot Company learning how to handle prisonersAugust 9, 2008 Jasmine Holloway patting down an actor dressed in an Arab costume during an exercise. (TYSON TRISH / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) CAMP OUTLAW, N.M. — Felipe Diaz, Paterson police officer and New Jersey National Guard sergeant bound for Iraq, put down his gun the other day at this remote desert training base and picked up an unlikely tool of war — a shield. Except for its clear-plastic design, Diaz’s protective shell seemed more suited to a Roman centurion 2,000 years ago, not a 21st Century American soldier in camouflage. “This is a whole new ball game,” said Diaz, a member of the Teaneck-based Foxtrot Company. That’s an understatement. The Pentagon has given Diaz and most of the 2,800 other soldiers of New Jersey’s 50th Infantry Brigade Combat Team the unfamiliar, politically sensitive mission of guarding captured Iraqis. With their summer of training coming to a close, Foxtrot Company and other New Jersey units are swinging into an intense immersion regimen on how to handle prisoners. Besides plastic shields and other non-lethal gadgets, the soldiers take computer classes in Arabic culture and language and are encouraged to empathize with the plight of some detainees. But behind almost every lecture and training exercise are two words — Abu Ghraib — and the indelible set of 2004 photographs showing a small group of U.S. Army reservists forcing captured Iraqis to strip naked and pose in sexually suggestive positions. As the Army points out, Camp Outlaw was built on the sands of New Mexico’s rugged chaparral to head off another Abu Ghraib scandal in the sands of Iraq. “We wouldn’t be here if that had not happened,” said Major Pamela Cooper, deputy commander of Camp Outlaw, which is meant to replicate a U.S. prison camps in Iraq, right down to the coiled barbed wire, the wooden guard towers, searing desert heat and actors dressed in Arab costumes. Read the story
PHOTO GALLERIES
MULTIMEDIASIGHTS & SOUNDSHoudine Moore, of Newark, is an amateur boxer. Each day, he rises before other soldiers or stays awake later, so he can run 3 to 5 miles and go through a set of boxing exercises.  Jamie Egan wearing a bracelet inscribed with the names of two platoon members who died in 2004. (TYSON TRISH / THE RECORD) When they go to war, most soldiers carry a keepsake. Captain James Egan of Glen Rock is wearing a silver bracelet inscribed with the names of two soldiers killed during his first deployment to Iraq. David Morera worked at a barbershop in Englewood before his deployment with the National Guard. While he's no longer in the shop, he's continued his trade by giving cuts to his fellow troops. In an army where soldiers wear similar uniforms, many units try to show their unique identity with a special logo. Foxtrot Company from the Teaneck Armory is no exception. While training in the desert, one soldier, who happens to be a painter, took time out to design a mural of Foxtrot’s new logo. Soldiers enduring a tense combat drill with simulated bombs and a very real case of the nerves. Soldiers say goodbye to friends and family as they leave for Fort Bliss, Texas. National Guardsman David Monllor attends the Lakeland Regional prom. National Guardsmen from the Teaneck armory training at Fort Indiantown Gap. VIDEOSoldiers from Teaneck bid a sad farewell to loved ones before heading to Texas. Single mom Marlene Martinez prepares for deployment. Captain James Egan, 29, has already been to Iraq. Now he's be going back. The 50th Infantry Brigade Combat Team receives a farewell salute at Fort Dix. Guardsmen Carmen Villegas and Victor Hernandez getting married. Twins Amina and Mariam Kure will be separated when they are deployed. Behind the scenes at Fort Indiantown Gap, where Guardsmen prepare for deployment. |
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