Couture
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GI's gone wild? Mud party at issue
A Florida unit that served at Guantánamo is now implicated in mud wrestling mayhem at a farewell party in southern Iraq.
BY CAROL ROSENBERG
crosenberg@herald.com
Some Florida reservists who guarded prisoners in Iraq celebrated the end of their yearlong tour of duty with a scantily clad mud wrestling party, the military said Monday.
At least four enlisted women soldiers engaged in the mud wrestling, and some sergeants egged them on. But no prisoners saw the open-air party on Oct. 30 at a remote part of Camp Bucca, a U.S. military detention center in southern Iraq, Army Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said.
Rather, commanders discovered the episode through pictures they saw about a week after members of the Tallahassee-based 160th Military Police Battalion left Iraq.
''A small group from within the unit decided to have a celebration of sorts, which included some mud wrestling,'' said Johnson, speaking by telephone from Baghdad.
``Detainees couldn't see it and were not in any way knowledgeable of what occurred. But they showed poor judgment because it led to some indecent exposure.''
The Daily News of New York, which obtained the photos, described the party in Spring Break Girls Gone Wild terms -- with scantily clad female soldiers wearing panties and bras and sometimes exposing their breasts.
The 160th Military Police Battalion, which served in Iraq from January to November 2004, declined to comment on the episode because it is under investigation by the Army's 81st Regional Readiness Command in Birmingham, Ala.
Two years before it went to Iraq the 160th served a rotation as reserve guards at the U.S. premier terror prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Army Maj. William Ritter said.
Two women mud wrestlers not from the unit have already been reprimanded. One was demoted a pay grade, and both were removed from a list of enlisted soldiers in line for promotion, Johnson said.
But most party participants are already in the States, meaning it is up to Army Reserve commanders here to investigate and issue punishments.
Among those implicated now stateside were two female soldiers, Johnson said. In addition, an inquiry in Iraq identified ``some sergeants from the unit who were at the event and seemed to be encouraging that the mud wrestling occur.''
Meantime, the Pentagon's Miami-based Southern Command declined to say Monday whether a one-star general investigating a wide range of activities at Guantánamo would inquire whether any mud wrestling took place in Cuba, too.
''Our policy is not to discuss ongoing investigations,'' said Army Lt. Col. Jim Marshall, deputy Southcom spokesman, ``Neither what is or what is not part of the investigation.''
Southcom chief Army Gen. Bantz Craddock recently allocated an extra month for the investigation, which was triggered by the release of FBI memos describing harsh interrogation tactics against prisoners employed by interrogators and military police.
The 160th served at Guantánamo in 2002, apparently during the same time period covered by the FBI accounts.
The revelation comes as Southcom is arranging to deploy sailors who work as full-time Navy police rather than reserve Army MPs to guard prisoners at the base in Cuba.
A Florida unit that served at Guantánamo is now implicated in mud wrestling mayhem at a farewell party in southern Iraq.
BY CAROL ROSENBERG
crosenberg@herald.com
Some Florida reservists who guarded prisoners in Iraq celebrated the end of their yearlong tour of duty with a scantily clad mud wrestling party, the military said Monday.
At least four enlisted women soldiers engaged in the mud wrestling, and some sergeants egged them on. But no prisoners saw the open-air party on Oct. 30 at a remote part of Camp Bucca, a U.S. military detention center in southern Iraq, Army Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said.
Rather, commanders discovered the episode through pictures they saw about a week after members of the Tallahassee-based 160th Military Police Battalion left Iraq.
''A small group from within the unit decided to have a celebration of sorts, which included some mud wrestling,'' said Johnson, speaking by telephone from Baghdad.
``Detainees couldn't see it and were not in any way knowledgeable of what occurred. But they showed poor judgment because it led to some indecent exposure.''
The Daily News of New York, which obtained the photos, described the party in Spring Break Girls Gone Wild terms -- with scantily clad female soldiers wearing panties and bras and sometimes exposing their breasts.
The 160th Military Police Battalion, which served in Iraq from January to November 2004, declined to comment on the episode because it is under investigation by the Army's 81st Regional Readiness Command in Birmingham, Ala.
Two years before it went to Iraq the 160th served a rotation as reserve guards at the U.S. premier terror prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Army Maj. William Ritter said.
Two women mud wrestlers not from the unit have already been reprimanded. One was demoted a pay grade, and both were removed from a list of enlisted soldiers in line for promotion, Johnson said.
But most party participants are already in the States, meaning it is up to Army Reserve commanders here to investigate and issue punishments.
Among those implicated now stateside were two female soldiers, Johnson said. In addition, an inquiry in Iraq identified ``some sergeants from the unit who were at the event and seemed to be encouraging that the mud wrestling occur.''
Meantime, the Pentagon's Miami-based Southern Command declined to say Monday whether a one-star general investigating a wide range of activities at Guantánamo would inquire whether any mud wrestling took place in Cuba, too.
''Our policy is not to discuss ongoing investigations,'' said Army Lt. Col. Jim Marshall, deputy Southcom spokesman, ``Neither what is or what is not part of the investigation.''
Southcom chief Army Gen. Bantz Craddock recently allocated an extra month for the investigation, which was triggered by the release of FBI memos describing harsh interrogation tactics against prisoners employed by interrogators and military police.
The 160th served at Guantánamo in 2002, apparently during the same time period covered by the FBI accounts.
The revelation comes as Southcom is arranging to deploy sailors who work as full-time Navy police rather than reserve Army MPs to guard prisoners at the base in Cuba.
