Camp Bucca Airmen make a difference with smiles

Published Feb. 3, 2009
By Capt. Angelic Dolan
386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

CAMP BUCCA, Iraq -- Every day as the dawn breaks over the Iraqi desert, hundreds of Iraqis line up to visit their relatives at the Theater Internment Facility at Camp Bucca, which holds more than 10,000 detainees.

Every day before that sun rises, Airmen from the 887th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron prepare for their visit and control their access to detainees.

"Family members come from all over Iraq, and under the Geneva Convention, they are authorized family visitation with the detainees," said Col. Alan Metzler, 586th Air Expeditionary Group commander. "Our Airmen will show them the respect and dignity we give all of our citizens, and the family members get to see how we treat the detainees."

While in the TIF, detainees are fed, clothed, housed in climate controlled facilities and are offered classes taught by Iraqi educators in Arabic and English in subjects ranging from math, agriculture, masonry, carpentry, their government to the Koran.

Colonel Metzler added, "These are the detainees we are trying to reconcile and gain their support for a new political system and new way forward.... The detainees will come out better citizens for their country ... and what a powerful tool to be able to go back and to be able to read. It gives them a skill set to be successful when they get out."

While the Airmen from the 887th ESFS's duties include processing visitors to see their family members, their daily interactions with the visitors and detainees contribute to the counterinsurgency efforts and are making a difference in support of the strategy to build a strong and stable Iraq.

"The interaction with the Iraqi people is an experience that I wouldn't be able to get anywhere else," said Senior Airmen Cambria Odelo, 887th ESFS member deployed from Luke Air Force Base, Ariz. "It is rewarding. You feel like you have accomplished something at the end of the day. We are showing the Iraqi people a different side of the U.S. military and what we are capable of doing. We are here to help them to rebuild their country."

Airmen take the necessary precautions to ensure there is a pleasant atmosphere around the visitation facilities. While the Airmen handle the procedures and responsibilities, they also ensure the visitors are treated with the utmost respect and courtesy during their interactions. Some even took the time to learn Arabic.

"We try our best with our Arabic to speak to them, make them feel comfortable to talk to us, make sure they have a good visit," said Airman 1st Class Aaron Bahadori, 887th ESFS member deployed from MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. "It makes them feel comfortable. Yes I am wearing an American uniform, but I can also speak their language, and they don't feel they are in a foreign area while visiting. Some of the visitors can speak English, for them to have taken the time to learn English and for us to have taken the time to learn Arabic - it is a mutual respect so they appreciate it."

As Iraqi families visiting Camp Bucca are being process through the visitation center, they are put into waiting rooms before meeting with their detained relatives. During these waiting periods, the energetic Iraqi children play soccer with the Airmen or enjoy the playground; many smiles are exchanged among the Airmen and children - a universal gesture. Once their waiting period ends, they get on a bus, which takes them to meet their loved ones.

Tech. Sgt. Mark Centeno, 887th ESFS member deployed from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, said the detainees are authorized two visits per month. When the two-hour visitation begins, Iraqi families and the detainees are allowed to embrace each other for the first five minutes. The visits conclude in the same way. Additionally, the Airmen do their best to ensure the detainees are not humiliated in front of their loved ones, their family members never see the detainees handcuffed, the California native added.

The visitation program between detainees and their families allow Airmen at Camp Bucca to promote goodwill between U.S. military and the Iraqi people, a step forward to rebuilding Iraq.

"I feel that I am making the Iraqi people understand that the Americans are here to help them," Airman Bahadori said. "They know the task will eventually be theirs to rebuild their country, but they know we are their friends and we are here to help them, just by us talking to them, being friendly and communicating with them. We are not what they have been led to believe by other people or doctrines."

The Airmen conducting the detainee family visitation mission at Camp Bucca are not outside the wire; still, they are helping us win the global war against terror through a non-kinetic approach -- using respect, generosity and smiles as their weapons of choice.

Visitation Center