Marines from the Marine Corps Security Force Company ready vehicles for a simulated casualty evacuation during a site security exercise at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay. Photo by Staff Sgt. Blair Heusdens

Combining all five military branches into a tightly woven tapestry, Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, work together daily to carry out the mission in one of the most highly scrutinized pieces of real estate on the planet.

“To conduct safe, humane, legal and transparent care and custody of detainees,” that’s the mission of Joint Task Force Guantanamo. Not only do the service members come in variety, so goes the variety of individual missions that work toward the total mission.

Public Affairs, the Joint Medical Group and the Joint Detention Group are just a few of the key players that work with service members from multiple branches. From guarding and caring for detainees, to providing command information and media relations support, the different styles come together to accomplish the mission.

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Megan Rascoe from the Joint Intelligence Group, another key player in the JTF mission, says it definitely puts a twist to things when you combine multiple services.

“Before coming here, I had only seen the Navy way of doing things,” Rascoe said. “But it’s interesting, learning how the other branches do things. When working with just all the Navy leadership, standards and styles are pretty much the same. Once you throw in multiple services, things change. It provides a unique challenge that I honestly feel will help me wherever I find myself, after I leave here.”

Being surrounded by people from every service doesn’t necessarily mean one works with them on a regular basis. For those who work in specialized shops and spend most of their time inside, it’s easy to forget they’re in a joint environment. There are other people, however, whose very job means interacting with different service members on a daily basis.

Coastguardsmen with the Maritime Safety and Security Team 91103 patrol at the waters of U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay.

JTF Guantanamo chaplains know no one service, they only see the service member.

“From our perspective, people are people,” said Air Force Maj. William Wiecher, a JTF chaplain. “Although service branches seem to interact differently with their chaplains, in this joint environment that doesn’t really matter. As a JTF chaplain, we’re available at all times for all service members.”

With the variety of uniforms, customs and courtesies and quirks of the different branches, one of the most difficult things about working in a joint environment, at least at first, can be something as simple as knowing who to salute.

“You see something shiny and your hand goes up,” said Army Sgt. Daisy Glass, Joint Detention Group non-commissioned officer. “What you don’t realize though is you’re saluting an enlisted Navy chief. The little things like that are the first hurdles to overcome. Once you’ve moved on from that, it becomes [natural].

“Sure we all have the same mission, but each of us does it a little differently. In the end we compromise and get the job done,” Glass said. “Working here has been an amazing experience.”

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Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Shane Arrington

A sea turtle is seen during a dive off Windmill Beach by service members of Joint Task Force Guantanamo. There are several species of sea turtles that can be found in the waters surrounding U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay. They include the leatherback, loggerhead, green and hawksbill turtles.

Whether it is on land, in the air or in the surrounding waters, all creatures big and small share the living space with service members and residents of U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay – this is also true of sea turtles.

There are several species of sea turtles that can be found in the waters surrounding the naval station. They include the leatherback, loggerhead, green and hawksbill turtles.

“Because of the unique position the base is in, we can see these turtles spawn year round,” said Mike McCord, U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay environmental director.

Service members and residents who take advantage of snorkeling or diving can see sea turtles on a regular basis. Some may even happen upon a nest of eggs or newly-hatched turtles while on the beach.

On Dec. 12, 2009, Jean Anderson, purchasing manager for Joint Task Force Guantanamo, walked up on some newly-hatched turtles before starting a night dive at Windmill Beach.

“It was so exciting and we were surprised at first,” Anderson said. “We saw them heading to the basketball court and helped them back to the water using a flashlight.”

Hatchlings find their way to the ocean by crawling toward the brightest horizon.

“They were thrown off course because the basketball court lights were on,” Anderson said. “When my dive partners and I started shining the flashlight toward the water, they turned and started to follow it in. It was really awesome to see.”

Service members and residents may not realize that all species of sea turtles are endangered and protected creatures.

“Around the world, fish and wildlife conservation commissions have regulations in place to protect sea turtles from catching them and harvesting their eggs,” McCord said.

Some of the biggest threats to the sea turtle population here in Guantanamo Bay, according to McCord, are traffic and light pollution on the beaches.

“People go to the beach to dive or to hang out. When they do, they tend to track through the nesting areas which destroys eggs,” McCord said. “People also leave the lights on in the cabanas at the beach when they leave.”

Another problem affecting the turtle population is harvesting of the eggs in the nests.

“During the 90s, when we had a large population of migrants here, our turtle population was affected because the migrants would go to the beaches and get the eggs and eat them,” McCord said.

Service members and residents may not realize they can help in the conservation of the sea turtle population here.

“The best way people can help is to keep a look out for turtle tracks on the beach and be aware of where they are traveling on the beach and to turn off all lights at the cabanas after using them,” McCord said. “We need to remember that most of us are visitors here and we want to protect the wildlife so others who come can enjoy it as well.”

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Story by Spc. April de Armas

Air Force Tech Sgt. Jeanette Gooch, deployed with the 474th Expeditionary Civil Engineering Squadron in support of Joint Task Force Guantanamo, is in charge of all hazardous materials that come in and out of Camp Justice. Gooch works primarily with chemical and biological agents in her military career and civilian job.

Most 474th Expeditionary Civil Engineering Squadron personnel who deploy to U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in support of Joint Task Force Guantanamo know what their job is going to be before they arrive. However, that was not the case for Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jeanette Gooch, an emergency management craftsman from the 130th Air National Guard Air Lift Wing from Charleston, W.Va.

Gooch, who works primarily with chemical and biological agents, ended up working in two different locations dealing with emergency response actions for natural disasters and enemy attack, as well as her Camp Justice mission as the hazardous materials coordinator.

“My original career field is emergency management, we monitor and sample [chemical and biological] agents and give recommendations to the commander for personnel safety and mission continuation,” Gooch explained. “As the HAZMAT coordinator, I monitor and remove all potentially dangerous hazardous materials from work areas in Camp Justice.”

In addition to her duties as non-commissioned officer-in-charge of emergency management, Gooch spent six weeks working at the Intelligence Operations Facility working for the previous JTF senior enlisted advisor, Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Brian Schexnayder. There she outlined and wrote a comprehensive emergency management plan for all of the JTF which includes response and recovery actions for major accidents and natural disasters. The robust document was coordinated with several base agencies and parallels the Guantanamo destructive weather plan.

“When I was acting command chief for JTF, Tech. Sgt. Gooch was always willing to go above and beyond her assigned duties to ensure all her [mission requirements] were met and completed in a timely and professional manner,” said Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Michael A. Withrow, JTF liaison for National Guard Bureau deployment-for-training teams.

Gooch earned an Army Achievement Medal for her dedication to taking a secret-rated instruction for the destructive weather plan and making it into an unclassified version in two days to disperse to all of JTF.

“I felt privileged and surprised that someone would think my work merits an Army Achievement Medal,” Gooch said.

Gooch’s self-motivation over her eight-year enlisted career inspired her to pursue becoming an officer in the United States Air Force. This month she received an e-mail announcing her selection to the Air Force’s Officer Training School. She will attend in the early part of 2010.

“The whole process took about a year,” Gooch said. “I had to take the Air Force Officers Qualifying Test and pass the flight physical, as well as go in front of two [review] boards consisting of only colonels and above. It’s going to be a great growing experience.”

Once Gooch leaves Guantanamo she will go back to her civilian career at the department of agriculture in West Virginia.

“I conduct a lot of plant and insect surveys,” Gooch explained. “Often I bring the samples back to the lab and run tests to determine if they contain plant disease DNA.”

Both her military and civilian job are alike.

“My military career encompasses sampling also, but I sample chemical and biological agents and nuclear radiation,” Gooch said.

According to Gooch, her deployment to Guantanamo has been an enjoyable one, but she is happy to go back to her life as a civilian for the next few months before becoming an officer in the United States Air Force.

“I would like to thank [Air Force First Sergeant] Charlie Brown, he’s been there for me through the entire deployment as well as the rest of the 474th ECES members,” Gooch said. “It’s been a great deployment and I’m going to miss you all.

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Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Benjamin Dennis puts the finishing touches on a mural that he painted in the hallway wall of U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay’s radio station, Feb. 5, 2009. Dennis is deployed to Joint Task Force Guantanamo’s public affairs office. Photo by Staff Sgt. Emily Russell

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Benjamin Dennis’ passion for drawing and painting began as a kid and developed over the years on different canvases. What began as self-expression on New York buildings and train cars has become a talent he shares, even leaving his mark behind at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay.

“I used to get in trouble a lot when I was a kid for doing graffiti and painting on things,” Dennis said. “I transferred [my creativity] over to something more constructive [as a] way for me to vent without infringing on other people’s property.”

As a kid, Dennis recalled getting picked on for not being able to draw like the other kids.

“Kids would come to school and draw and scribble on things and tell me, ‘You can’t draw like that!’ And I’d say, ‘Yes I can!’ But, I couldn’t draw like that,” Dennis said. “So, I tried and tried until I was better than them. It was just another thing to do. I wanted to prove to them that I was better.”

Dennis honed his artistic skills by “just doing it.”

“I did a lot of school pride murals for high schools back in New York and a few murals in spray paint on the sides of grocery stores and train stations,” Dennis said. “Sometimes I didn’t know if it would turn out the way I wanted it to. I’m a pretty harsh critic of myself. I always see a flaw in whatever I do.”

As a mass communication specialist, Dennis has worked with Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs and Naval Station, lending his talent to video production as well as writing stories and taking photographs for ‘The Wire,’ and the Naval Station ‘Gazette.’ He also left his artistic mark at Radio GTMO.

“[Navy Petty Officer 1st Class] Camerino Pagan, [defense media activity leading petty officer], said the radio station looked pretty boring,” Dennis said. “I told him that I paint and he got the tools. Pagan said I could do whatever I want, but wanted to make sure the painting was of someone that everyone could identify. I painted two people who were easily recognizable, Britney Spears and 50 Cent.”

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Benjamin Dennis puts the finishing touches on a mural he painted in the hallway at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay’s radio station, Feb. 5, 2009. Dennis is deployed to Joint Task Force Guantanamo’s public affairs office.

“I originally wanted to paint Ray Charles, Willie Nelson and Marvin Gaye but I didn’t want people to walk in and say, ‘Who’s that guy?’”

According to Pagan, during the recent upgrades for the defense media activity, he wanted his team to have a sense of ownership at the radio station and Dennis’ mural provided that.

“I have already seen many smiles as the guys walk down the hallway,” Pagan said. “I did a tour the other day and our guests were really impressed – and it wasn’t even done [yet].”

The painting took Dennis about three weeks to complete.

“The beautiful thing about painting,” Dennis quipped, “is if you make a mistake, you just cover it up and keep going. It’s very freeing and helps me focus.”

“It was great to see [Dennis] doing something he loves to do,” Pagan added. “As leaders it is our job to motivate and push professional and personal development. I believe Dennis’ commitment to the project demonstrated a commitment he can deliver time and time again no matter what task, personal or professional, is given to him.”

As Dennis comes to the end of his career in the Navy, his sights are set for becoming a teacher of art and English.

“I think the best age to start teaching is middle school-kids as they are most influenced at that age,” Dennis said. “They want to be like the older kids, but they’re still pretty young and want to grow up too fast. I feel like I wasted a little of my potential by not following some of the goals I had. If I had somebody to mentor me when I was their age, I probably would not [have] worried about some of the things I [used to].

“If you like to do something, no matter how silly you may think it is someone else might not, so try,” Dennis said. “Don’t let fear keep you down.”

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Story by Staff Sgt. Emily Russell