Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus ride a chariot during the GTMO holiday parade. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Elisha Dawkins

Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba held its annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony for the community at the Navy Exchange on Nov. 27.

The event was hosted by Cmdr. William Rabchenia, the naval station’s executive officer and Command Master Chief J.D. McKinney and included cheerleaders, dancers and a child chorus that provided entertainment to those who attended.

“The community participation in our annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony was inspirational and encouraging,” said McKinney. “That interaction with our neighbors was the best way to reflect back on the year’s events and kick off the holiday season.”

After the entertainment at the NEX, attendees drove or walked down the street to watch the ceremonial lighting of the Christmas tree that sets atop a hill across from the bachelor’s officer’s quarters.

“The Christmas tree lighting was a culmination of lots of planning and many hands coming together for the good of the GTMO community,” McKinney said.

Many people who attended enjoyed the event.

“I thought it was awesome,” said Ralph Densmore, NAVSTA Physical Security Officer. “[The] children were energetic and put on a marvelous performance. You could see the excitement of Christmas in their faces and actions.”

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Story by Terence Peck

Chris Petersen, a natural resource specialist with Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic, fits a GPS harness equipped on an anesthetized hutia, colloquially known as a banana rat, at the Guantanamo Bay Veterinary Treatment Facility, April 13. The purpose of the GPS unit is to track the migration patterns of the local hutia population. The hutia, nicknamed 'Thor' during the procedure, will be tracked for the next three to four months before being recaptured to gather the information stored in the harness. The veterinary clinic serves primarily to treat the pets of service members and Department of Defense employees assigned to Joint Task Force Guantanamo and the naval station. Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Joshua Nistas

Naval Station Guantanamo Bay is the oldest overseas U.S. Naval base, the only base located in a country with which the U.S. does not maintain diplomatic relations, and is home to the Joint Task Force Guantanamo detention facility. All this information is easily found on the Internet, but there is another side to GTMO that is not as easily found by typing “Guantanamo Bay” into a search engine: The base is also a wildlife refuge, providing protection for a variety of fluffy and scaly creatures that do not have the chance to flourish on the rest of the island.

For the past 10 years, Dr. Peter Tolson, director of conservation and research at the Toledo Zoo, has been visiting Guantanamo Bay to conduct research on some of the reptile species that call the base home. His most recent trip focused on the Cuban Boa snake.

“We go out and catch wild Cuban Boas,” Tolson said. “We surgically insert a radio transmitter into their body cavity using the [Naval Station Guantanamo Bay] veterinary staff. We then follow those snakes as they roam throughout the habitat on the base.”

And roam they do. According to Tolson, the average range of an adult snake is approximately two square miles.

“The babies have about half an acre,” Tolson said. “As they grow they expand their range as they become sexually mature and start looking for mates.”

The radio transmitter inserted into the snakes includes a GPS unit and provides Tolson with information on where they go and how long they stay in one place. He uses this information to determine how the snakes interact with the humans who share the base with them. Tolson said one of his missions is to lessen the conflicts between the military and the wildlife here.

Another researcher working on helping humans and wildlife co-exist in Guantanamo is Chris Peterson, a natural resource specialist with Naval Facilities Atlantic. His research is similar to Tolson’s: he’s tracking one of GTMO’s more popular creatures, but he’s focusing on a more furry variety, the hutia. Hutia are large rodents that inhabit many Caribbean islands. The species found in GTMO is known locally as the banana rat, so named because their feces look like small bananas.

“There is an effort to control the hutia population when the numbers get too high,” Peterson said. “We’re trying, through the information provided with our study, to apply a little science to the control of the population here in Guantanamo Bay.”

Peterson said the process of controlling the population is not cut-and-dried. “For example, if we find that the activity range of a hutia is only a few square acres, maybe there’s not a need to control the population in areas that are greater than four acres outside the housing areas,” Peterson said. “The way we’re doing that is through a technique called radio telemetry.”

The process is similar to the work Tolson has done with the boas, only instead of inserting a transmitter into the body of the hutia it is placed around the hutia’s neck on a collar. Peterson said the transmitter emits a signal which he can pick up using a hand held radio receiver.

“It’s much like a radio station,” Peterson said. “Each transmitter has its own unique frequency.”

In addition to the radio telemetry technology, Peterson is using a mini GPS, which he said is instrumental in the field of wildlife study. It’s strapped to the back of a hutia and can be programmed to turn on at various intervals. The ones used in GTMO are programmed to provide a longitude and latitude reading every five hours for 60 days, which, according to Peterson, is how long it takes for the battery to die.

When the GPS unit is collected, it is connected to a computer and the information downloaded. Peterson uses the data to calculate an activity range.

“We’re getting a tremendous amount of data with little effort,” Peterson said. “If we didn’t have this GPS collar we’d have to send a biologist out daily.”

Peterson said that not only does the GPS collar mean less footwork, it also allows the tracking of the hutia during the night, which is when they are most active.

Research and conservation efforts effecting base wildlife are not confined to Naval Station Guantanamo Bay. According to Tolson there are many programs on U.S. military bases throughout the world. He also pointed out that in many cases it is the very presence of the base that allows certain species to thrive.

The Cuban Boa and hutia research and tracking programs are ongoing projects made possible by a partnership between the U.S. Navy and the Toledo Zoo.

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Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Shane Arrington

Jonathan Goble passes a handful of washers and murky water to his teammate Erika Bilchik during “The Swamp Swim” event of U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay’s Fear Factor at the Windjammer pool, Feb. 24. Fear Factor, based on the popular television program, was put on by the base Morale, Welfare and Recreation department. Photo by Spc. Megan Burnham

Fear and uncertainty was felt by 16 U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay residents who scrounged up enough courage to partake in the first Morale, Welfare and Recreation Fear Factor competition, Feb. 24.

“When you walked up to the [Windjammer] pool and the first thing you smelled were rotting fish, you started to really think about the kind of fools that would sign up for such a challenge,” said Meghan Phillips, a Soldier deployed to Joint Task Force Guantanamo and participant in the competition.

Only eight two-person teams accepted the challenge to compete in the three events that tested their mettle to do whatever was deemed necessary to win the competition. Despite the limited competitors that could sign up, many spectators showed up to watch the grossly humorous events as well as to provide support.

The Fear Factor competition began with “The Swamp Swim,” where one member of each team would submerse themselves in a container filled with murky water, dead fish and squid. The task was to retrieve 20 washers that were thrown in the bucket in less than three minutes. While most tried to keep their face above water, as time wore on they succumbed to dunking themselves entirely to obtain all the washers. After the first event, two teams were eliminated; one didn’t finish in the time allowed and the other had the longest time.

Forrest Rodman consumes portions of beef and pork during “The Gory Gorge” portion of the U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay’s Fear Factor at the Windjammer pool, Feb. 24. Fear Factor, based on the popular television program, was put on by the base Morale, Welfare and Recreation department. Photo by Spc. Megan Burnham

The second event was “The Gory Gorge,” where the other team member consumed a pound of unidentifiable meats in the fastest time possible. The four fastest teams advanced to the final round. Participants had five minutes to put away an assortment of pig feet, pork stomach, pig tail, pig ears, beef heart, beef tongue and beef liver. Two team members managed to finish their plates while the other four teams had their plates weighed to determine who ate the most.

“All the food was pretty greasy and that was what grossed me out,” said Erika Bilchik. “I really wasn’t trying to taste any of it.”

The third and final event was “The Gauntlet,” where the last four teams competed to finish the obstacle course in the quickest time possible. The event started with one team member climbing an inflatable iceberg to obtain four bandanas, just to knot them on an underwater rope. The member was only allowed four breaths to tie all the bandanas.

Once that was completed, they swam to the side of the pool to hand tag their team member to proceed in the second portion of the event. Both members ran to the shallow end where the second member would buddy tow the other to the deep end of the pool. The event was completed as soon as they touched the wall at the deep end.

The winning team, Phillips and her teammate Liam Walsh, finished the final event in 4 minutes, 59 seconds and were awarded two iPods. Second place was Travis Thomas and Forrest Rodman, who finished in 5 minutes, 57 seconds and received two $50 Navy Exchange certificates. The third place team of Bilchik and Jonathan Goble finished in 6 minutes, 12 seconds and received two MWR gift certificates.

This Fear Factor competition was made possible by Liberty Center staff Rebecca Reed, Trecia Anderson, Norris Brown, Jason Hamilton and Cinco Brian. Jeffrey Shaw of MWR and the Windjammer Pool lifeguards also assisted in the coordination and success of the event.

“This is the first time that Liberty has offered [Fear Factor] for the adults and it turned out great,” Anderson said. “There is a good possibility that it will become an annual event.”

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Story by Spc. Megan Burnham