Sean Baker is a
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
veteran who was injured in a training drill at
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base ( es, Base Naval de la Bahía de Guantánamo), officially known as Naval Station Guantanamo Bay or NSGB, (also called GTMO, pronounced Gitmo as jargon by members of the U.S. military) is a United States military bas ...
in 2003, and subsequently discharged.
Background
Baker was a member of the
Kentucky Army National Guard
The Kentucky Army National Guard is a component of the United States Army and the United States National Guard. Nationwide, the Army National Guard comprises approximately one half of the US Army's available combat forces and approximately one t ...
. He served during the first
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
. In 2003 he was a member of the
438th Military Police at Guantanamo Bay.
Incident
In January 2003, Baker was ordered by an officer at
Camp Delta
Camp Delta is a permanent American detainment camp at Guantanamo Bay that replaced the temporary facilities of Camp X-Ray. Its first facilities were built between 27 February and mid-April 2002 by Navy Seabees, Marine Engineers, and workers f ...
to play the role of a prisoner in a training drill. As per instruction, Baker wore the standard
Guantanamo captive's uniforms
Detainees held at the US-run Guantanamo Bay detention camp are typically issued one of two uniforms, either a white jumpsuit if the prisoner has been labeled "compliant", or an orange jumpsuit if the detainee has been labeled "non-compliant".
W ...
, an orange prison jumpsuit, over his uniform and crawled under a bunk, so an
"internal reaction force" consisting of four (possibly five) soldiers could practice extracting an uncooperative inmate from his cell. The soldiers in the
riot squad
Riot control measures are used by law enforcement, military, paramilitary or security forces to control, disperse, and arrest people who are involved in a riot, unlawful demonstration or unlawful protest.
If a riot is spontaneous and irrati ...
thought that he was a genuine detainee who had assaulted a sergeant.
During an interview with
WLEX, a Kentucky
television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...
, Baker stated that he was beaten severely and that a soldier pressed his head down against the steel floor to the point where he became unable to breathe. Although Baker shouted out the
safeword
In BDSM, a safeword is a code word, series of code words or other signal used by a person to communicate their physical or emotional state, typically when approaching, or crossing, a physical, emotional, or moral boundary. Some safewords are used ...
("red") he had been given to stop the exercise and stated that he was a U.S. soldier, the soldier continued beating Baker's head against the floor and choking him. Only after he ripped his prison jumpsuit in the struggle, revealing that he was wearing a
battle dress uniform
The Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) is a camouflaged combat uniform that was used by the United States Armed Forces as their standard combat uniform from the early 1980s to the mid-2000s. Since then, it has been replaced or supplanted in every br ...
and government-issue boots underneath, did the beating stop.
Baker was transported to a
military hospital
A military hospital is a hospital owned and operated by a military. They are often reserved for the use of military personnel and their dependents, but in some countries are made available to civilians as well. They may or may not be located on a ...
for treatment of head injuries and then transferred to a
Navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
hospital in
Portsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth is an independent city in southeast Virginia and across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,915. It is part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area.
The Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Naval M ...
, where he was treated for six days and given a two-week injury
discharge. During that discharge Baker began suffering major seizures indicative of
traumatic brain injury
A traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as an intracranial injury, is an injury to the brain caused by an external force. TBI can be classified based on severity (ranging from mild traumatic brain injury TBI/concussionto severe traumatic b ...
, and was sent to
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
The Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC)known as Walter Reed General Hospital (WRGH) until 1951was the U.S. Army's flagship medical center from 1909 to 2011. Located on in the District of Columbia, it served more than 150,000 active and ret ...
, where he stayed for forty-eight days. Afterwards, he was transferred to light duty with a burial detail at
Fort Dix, New Jersey
Fort Dix, the common name for the Army Support Activity (ASA) located at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, is a United States Army post. It is located south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. Fort Dix is under the jurisdiction of the Air Force A ...
, and received a
medical discharge in April 2004.
After retirement
After Baker revealed his story to a Kentucky reporter, a spokeswoman for
United States Southern Command
The United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), located in Doral, Florida, Doral, Florida in Greater Miami, is one of the eleven unified combatant commands in the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for providing contingen ...
questioned the validity of his injuries, and denied that his medical discharge was related to the training drill. However, the
Physical Evaluation Board stated in a document on 29 September 2003, that "the
TBI was due to soldier playing role of detainee who was non-cooperative and was being extracted from detention cell in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during a training exercise."
The Army has since recanted its denial of the relationship between Baker's injury and the training drill, although the spokeswoman continues to claim that the injury was only partly caused by the incident. A military investigation concluded that there was no misconduct that led to Baker's injury. A videotape that should have been made of the incident for training purposes has yet to be found.
A June 2005
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
"urged the military to turn over Mr Baker's medical records." The same month, the ''
'' quoted an unnamed official: "While it is unfortunate that Spc. Baker was injured, the standards of professionalism we expect of our soldiers mandate that our training be as realistic as possible".