BrandonNeely

Because it is the right thing to do hopefully by myself and others speaking out it will help Guantanamo to close and maybe we can change some people’s thoughts on this issue. I took an oath to defend the constitution of the United States and just because I am no longer in uniform doesn't mean I still don't take that oath seriously

I took part in and saw a lot of horrible incidents at Guantanamo, but one incident in particular has always stuck with me.

One day, while on duty at Camp X-Ray, I was assigned to escorting duties. I was at the very back of the camp. There was like a big shed there. This was also where the IRF team was stationed at until called upon. On this day the call came for the IRF team to come to Bravo Block. They made their way to the block and, at the time, I was not doing anything, so I made my way down to the block to watch from the outside of the block. The situation on the block was that a detainee had called a female MP "bitch" a couple times. For punishment, the IRF team was called upon to enter the cage and hog-tie the detainee. The female MP was very upset, yelling "Whip his ass!"

The IRF team, along with the camp OIC, approached the detainee's cage and told him to stop yelling and lay down so he could be restrained. The detainee just stood there, staring at them. The IRF team lined up in position to enter the cage. The OIC unlocked the lock on the cage door and, when this was done, the detainee turned around, went to his knees and placed his hands on the top of his head. The lock was taken off and the cage door was opened. The Number One Man on the IRF team tossed his shield to the side and, with a quick run towards the detainee, hopped in the air and came down on the back of the detainee with his knee (the Number One guy on the IRF team was no small guy). This caused the detainee to fall to the cement floor of the cage with the Number One Man on top of him. Then the whole IRF team was on top of him hitting, punching, and kicking him. It seemed like a long time, but in reality it lasted 15-20 seconds.

While the IRF team was still on top of the detainee someone yelled for the female MP that was called a bitch. She entered the cage and she punched the detainee a couple times in the head and then left the cage. Everyone in the cage stood up and the detainee laid there cuffed-up but motionless and unresponsive. Next thing I saw were medics coming from the medical house with a stretcher. They left the block with the detainee on the stretcher; they took him to a waiting military ambulance and was transported to the main hospital. The IRF team would ride along with the detainee. I went back to work not fully knowing what was wrong or what happened to the detainee.

Later that night, after we had been off for a while, the IRF team came back from the hospital. They would go on and talk about how they hit and punched the detainee and how they held him down so the female MP could hit him a couple times. They went on to talk about the ambulance ride saying no one spoke and it was a very silent ride. One of them even stated the detainee went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance. I do not know if this statement is true or not. I know the camp OIC of this incident would joke many times about how he never heard his name and "war crimes" in the same sentence so many times in his life.

Eventually the detainee would return back to the camp from the hospital. About a week or so later I was assigned to work Bravo Block, and the block NCOIC happened to be a member of the IRF team. He was the Number One Man of the day of this incident. When the NCOIC walked onto the block a detainee named Feroz Abbasi yelled "Sergeant, have you come back to finish him off

Honestly, I did one detainee Ruhal Ahmed was the same age as me and spoke English as he was from the UK. The one thing we had in common of all things was music we both listened to Eminem and we would speak of girls and going out etc. I actually meet him years later in London and we are good friends to this day and speak at least once a week he now is married and has 3 kids.

Him and 2 of his friends where at a wedding in Pakistan and they captured and sold to the Americans for 5,000 dollars a piece

I actually volunteered for a deployment and I thought I was going to go to Afghanstain and fight on the front lines and when I found out I was going to Guantanamo to baby sit a bunch of "terrorist" I was pissed. I hated them for what they had done to my country killing 3,000 Americans I wanted revenge for that cowardly attack. I along with everyone else there was told before we got there and everyday before we entered the camp to work "These men held there where the worst of the worst and would kill us and out families in a heart beat". After a few months and taking part and watching the treatment there I came to a conclusion innocent or guilty no one deserves to be treated in the manner we treated those men not only is it inhuman its down right criminal.

I really changed when I saw a lot of detainees being cleared and released due to the fact they were innocent and just detained and sold to us because they were brown, Muslim, and of military age. I believe this country is a lot better then what has and is taken place at Guantanamo we had a great chance to show the world that our justice and legal system was the best in the world, but we dropped the ball and now Guantanamo has become a rallying cry for those that truly do hate us for out freedoms. When countries like Russia and Iran use Guantanamo human rights violations against us and we can't respond there is a serious problem.

You can help by signing the petition to close Guantanamo and just call your local officials and state your case,