No Concessions for the Commissions

I've been down here in Cuba for about four days now. And I love it, as usual. On sunday night I was hanging out with a few of the Air Force Engineers who are building the Courthouse and complete facility (Camp Justice) where all of the commissions will be going on. Thus, I got a tour.

There's a huge trailer for the defense , a huge trailer for the prosecution , a huge trailer for the security detail and a gigantic Courthouse. Right now they're working on putting together the insides of the buildings. The defense, prosecution and media will all be staying in tents right outside the facility.

Here's my favorite part about it. As we're sitting on top of the hanger control tower my friend starts to tell me that the project started out as a $125 million dollar project that involved hotels, restaurants and shops. All kinds of comfy, cooshy things for the civilians coming down to appreciate. However, congress paired it down to a $12 million dollar project... cutting out all those niceties.

The reason this makes me and some of the soldiers down here pretty happy? Because now all those condescending media types, stuck up lawyers, and damned habeas corpus defenders have to sleep on little cots just like the soldiers and airmen who are down here building this place. They'll all have to live just like the guys who are defending our freedoms all over this world. They have to shower and have bathrooms in huge communal tents like all our men and women in uniform and they'll have to eat at the Galley just like all our men and women in uniform.

I want to see just how long they keep up the passion they have for their cause when they're not functioning out of they're wonderful plush offices. How long can they handle what our soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen have been using for years? And not just using... but making the best of. You know what the Air Force Engineers did with their situation? They improved it. How? They built themselves a bar. I'm talking a real keg-having, water-running, double refrigerator, indoor-outdoor bar with a dart board and pool table...... bar. With a christmas tree and a fire pit and hot damn am I proud of these guys.

Even though congress didn't do it on purpose and they're really just trying to save some money. I'm glad that there are little to no concessions for the people working the commissions. This whole mission is dirty, dirty work. Everything from the stress to the literal dirt (or other things if a detainee throws stuff at you) on your uniform is hard to handle.

God Bless these United States Military Men and Women. And God Bless Congress for (unintentionally) doing something right. :)