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MPs in Kuwait prepare EPW facilities

by Spc. Cory J. Meyman

KUWAIT (Army News Service, March 22, 2003) - With more than 1,200 Iraqi soldiers now captured by coalition forces, U.S military police are preparing internment and resettlement facilities.

Soldiers of the 800th Military Police Brigade from Uniondale, N.Y., will guard enemy prisoners of war and they are preparing to build facilities that are to be name after fallen heroes of 9-11.

"The internment facilities are where we keep prisoners of war until they can be released back to their country," said Edward Diamantis of the 800th MP Brigade, an Army Reserve unit.

The facilities should hold up to 8,000 detainees and the soldiers plan on making improvements from their older plans during Operation Desert Storm, said Col. Alan Ecke of the 800th MP Brigade.

"We will implement lessons learned from the Gulf War," said Ecke. "We will be able to accommodate them all. The plan is solid; we'll make it work. We can handle whatever they throw at us."

The facilities are not prisons, they are made to make detainees as comfortable as possible during their stay, officials said.

"They are actually similar to a soldier's environment," said Diamantis. "The facilities must follow the Geneva Convention rules. We exceed the regulations in some cases. Our job is different from other soldiers. We get them after the fighting. We're not shooting at the enemy, we're trying to take care of them after the shooting is done."

"They receive light medical treatment, showers, a change of clothes, air-conditioning and heat, and a hygiene kit, said Maj. Anthony Cavallaro of the 800th MP Brigade. "In many cases they're even better taken care of than in their current situation."

The detainees should have the rights of any other civilian, said Ecke.

"I think of them as another country's patriots," said Ecke. "They are fighting vehemently for what they believe in, just as we are. We should treat them with care and dignity. They are not criminals, they are soldiers."

Almost 50 percent of the 800th Brigade are firefighters or policemen of some kind, so they thought it was fitting to name the internment facilities after people who died during the 9-11 tragedy, said Diamantis.

The first facility to be built will be named after Ronald Bucca, a former Army Reserve warrant officer and fire chief who was killed trying to put out the fire within the Twin Towers, said Cavallaro.

"Bucca was one of the first people to reach the fire," said Cavallaro. "He put the lives of others in front of his own."

The second facility will be named after Capt. Mark Whitford, a firefighter and reservist with the 331st Military Intelligence, who also died while doing his duty during the 9-11 tragedy, said Ecke.

"Our morale is high and we're raring to go," said Ecke. "We're very ready to validate all of the training we have learned, and ready to put it into practice."

"We are very motivated because of the circumstances America is in now," said Cavallaro. "We are confronting this today, so it won't be a problem in the future. I haven't heard one person say that we shouldn't be here."