1-10 FA Soldiers Learn Through Change

A Soldier from the 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery, currently attached to the 16th Military Police Brigade, Task Force 134, trains on unarmed combat techniques at Camp Bucca, Iraq.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

By Sgt. Natalie Rostek, 3rd HBCT Public Affairs
Photos courtesy of 1-10 Field Artillery

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER, Iraq – They live miles away from the unit with which they had trained, worked, lived and deployed.

They work in a detention facility doing jobs they had not trained for or imagined they would be doing. But their spirits are high, and their appreciation for the experience is something they will take with them beyond Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Their mission is to guard detainees who are brought to the Camp Bucca detention facility. The tasks the Soldiers must accomplish on a daily basis include securing the detainees so they don’t escape, safeguarding them so they are not hurt within the compound, and ensuring Iraqi rule of law and due process can occur.

The 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery, attached to the 16th Military Police Brigade and Task Force 134, at Camp Bucca. The unit was detached from the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team at the start of the deployment.

“We arrived to (Camp) Buehring (Kuwait) around the 16th of March. On the 22nd we went to Taji for the counter-insurgency training where we learned our Bravo Battery was going to be stationed at Camp Bucca,” said Maj. Luis Rivera, of Puerto Rico, operations officer for the 1-10 FA. “Two days later, we learned our whole battalion was going.”

Sgt. Marlin White, of Anderson, Ind., a shift leader in Headquarters Battery, 1-10 FA, has been in military service for eight years and understands the constant changes the Army goes through at a moments notice.

“You have to be flexible. You have to be open-minded,” White said. “The Army has been and always will be changing. I tell my Soldiers, ‘Don’t take anything you hear and just run with it.’ Things change and change and change again.”

For many Soldiers who had recently arrived to the unit from advanced individual training, the sudden change caused them to quickly adapt to their new roles.

“My NCOs told me I have to adapt to the constant changes of the Army,” said Pfc. Lucero Hernandez, of Las Vegas, supply representative for 1-10 FA. “It was hard, but I know this is an experience I will never forget.”

The movement was sudden, and the 1-10 FA Soldiers had little idea of what exactly they would be doing. They would be working with a unit they had never worked with before, in a job that was completely new to most of the Soldiers.

“One thing I’ve noticed about artillery Soldiers from my 19 years of experience,” explained Lt. Col. Mark Sullivan, of Huntsville, Ala., commander of the 1-10 FA, “is we are very adaptive [and] we are able to reorganize in very effective and efficient ways. We understand the significance of what we are doing and with a little bit of training, we are able to adapt to the mission.”

Sullivan said, each individual task relates to the entire mission, which is to counteract the insurgency.

“We didn’t train with (Task Force 134) or previously work with them, so there were some growing pains at first. The MP Brigade Soldiers are experts on detainee operations,” Rivera said. “The 3rd HBCT have always done things differently. We are used to the lethal fight. That helps immensely in detainee operations.”

White said the current mission of the 1-10 FA is much different than his previous two deployments to the Middle East.

“We train on how to use non-lethal weapons,” he said. “We also have to learn the culture more in-depth.”

Rivera said the Soldiers all carry their issued M-9 pistols, and M-4 and M-16 rifles, but are also trained on non-lethal weapons, such as batons, tazers, and shotguns that fire bean bags.

“The non-lethal weapons cause enough pain to knock the detainee back but doesn’t permanently hurt them or kill them.”

Rivera said the 3rd HBCT leaders focus a great deal on the discipline of their Soldiers. This training is crucial to the unit’s mission because many of the detainees are in the facility for insurgent activity against Coalition Forces. Discipline allows the Soldiers working in the detention facility to put aside their personal feelings and concentrate on the mission at hand, Rivera said.

Cpl. Brandon Rhodes, of Kalamazoo, Mich., Battery A, 1-10 FA, said there are certain challenges he faces in his new job as a quick reaction force Soldier. Rhodes and his team are responsible for reinforcing the detention facility, which includes controlling riots, reacting to escapes, and controlling the movement of detainees. They must always be ready, because an incident requiring QRF to respond could break out at any given time.

“A huge challenge is learning to be patient,” he said. “In our job, there is a lot of waiting for something to happen. We aren’t watching the best people in the world, and we have to be patient with them as well.”

“If you can deal with this, you can deal with a lot of things in the world,” White added.

Hernandez said her job faces challenges as well. As a supply representative, she must supply the detainees with items such as clothing and personal hygiene products.

“If we don’t get the supplies they need, that could cause a riot within the compound,” she said.

White, who serves as a mediator between the detainees and the sergeant of the guard of the detention facility, said cultural differences are a large part of the difficulties between the Soldiers and detainees.

“We have to know how to react to their culture and we have to know what it all means. We also have to know how to follow their culture,” he said. “For example, when they pray, they don’t like to have any noise. If we make noise, that could cause problems in the compound.”

Rhodes sees the cultural interaction as more of a reward. He explained how constantly interacting with another culture allows him to understand the differences between people. He understands that doing things differently to get the same result does not make it wrong.

Hernandez, who is working toward a degree in criminal justice, said she thinks the experience she gains from the detention facility will prepare her for her goal of becoming a police officer.

The stress of their unique mission does weigh heavily on the Soldiers of the 1-10 FA at Camp Bucca. Most of the Soldiers agree that it is, in fact, the experience of a lifetime. They are learning something new every day and contributing to the overall mission of the military.

“In the small picture, it’s just a job,” Rhodes said, “but in the big picture, it’s nice to know I’m contributing the security of my family and the nation.”

The 1-10 FA will be replaced at Camp Bucca and will rejoin the 3rd HBCT at FOB Hammer. Until then, they will remain a significant part of the 16th MP Brigade, TF 134, Sullivan said.

“We are recognized by the MPs as honorary MPs,” Sullivan said. “They recognize what we bring to them and they understand what we bring to the fight. We are constantly doing the right thing.”