Sean Baker United States Army | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Lawrenceburg, Kentucky |
| Allegiance | US |
| Service/ |  United States Air Force United States Army |
| Years of service | 1990?-?? (USAF) 2001-2004 (U.S. Army) |
| Rank | Specialist (Army) |
| Unit | 438th Military Police |
| Battles/wars | Gulf War |
Sean Baker is a United States Air Force veteran who was injured in a training drill at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in 2003, and subsequently discharged.
Baker was a member of the Kentucky Army National Guard. He served during the first Gulf War. In 2003 he was a member of the 438th Military Police at Guantanamo Bay.[ citation needed ]
 | This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(May 2023) |
In January 2003, Baker was ordered by an officer at Camp Delta to play the role of a prisoner in a training drill. As per instruction, Baker wore the standard Guantanamo captive's uniforms, 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 thought that he was a genuine detainee who had assaulted a sergeant.
During an interview with WLEX, a Kentucky television station, 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 ("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 and government-issue boots underneath, did the beating stop.
Baker was transported to a military hospital for treatment of head injuries and then transferred to a Navy hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia, 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, and was sent to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he stayed for forty-eight days. Afterwards, he was transferred to light duty with a burial detail at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and received a medical discharge in April 2004.
After Baker revealed his story to a Kentucky reporter, a spokeswoman for United States Southern Command 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." [1]
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 story reports Kentucky Congressman Ben Chandler "urged the military to turn over Mr Baker's medical records." [2] The same month, the LA Times 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". [3]
As of June 2005 Baker receives $2,350 a month in military disability benefits, plus $1,000 a month in social security, which he was willing to give up if the Army finds a way to reinstate a position for him. [3]
Baker filed a lawsuit in May 2005, against Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey, and Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England, among others. Baker alleges the events in the incident violated his constitutional rights. In his suit Baker is asking for $15 million in compensation and damages, and for re-instatement in the Army. However, due to the 1950 Supreme Court decision in Feres v. United States , Baker is unable to sue. [4]
Baker still "wants to serve his country, in the Army", and has stated that the Army "can find him a job that accommodates his disability".
The G.I. Bill, formally known as the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans. The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, but the term "G.I. Bill" is still used to refer to programs created to assist American military veterans.
The Rough Riders was a nickname given to the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, one of three such regiments raised in 1898 for the Spanish–American War and the only one to see combat. The United States Army was small, understaffed, and disorganized in comparison to its status during the American Civil War roughly thirty years prior. Following the sinking of USS Maine, President William McKinley needed to muster a strong ground force swiftly, which he did by calling for 125,000 volunteers to assist in the war. The U.S. had gone to war in opposition to Spanish colonial policies in Cuba, which was then torn by a rebellion. The regiment was also nicknamed "Wood's Weary Walkers" for its first commander, Colonel Leonard Wood. This reflected their dissatisfaction that despite being cavalry, they ended up fighting in Cuba as infantry, since their horses were not sent there with them.
A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and then fully and satisfactorily completed their term of service. Other types of discharge are based on factors such as the quality of their service, whether their service had to be ended prematurely due to humanitarian or medical reasons, whether they had been found to have drug or alcohol dependency issues and whether they were complying with treatment and counseling, and whether they had demerits or punishments for infractions or were convicted of any crimes. These factors affect whether they will be asked or allowed to re-enlist and whether they qualify for benefits after their discharge.
About six months after the United States invasion of Iraq of 2003, rumors of Iraq prison abuse scandals started to emerge.
Murat Kurnaz is a Turkish citizen and legal resident of Germany who was held in extrajudicial detention by the United States at its military base in Kandahar, Afghanistan and in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba beginning in December 2001. He was tortured in both places. By early 2002, intelligence officials of the United States and Germany had concluded that accusations against Kurnaz were groundless.
The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Selected Reserve (SELRES), the Training and Administration of the Reserve (TAR), the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), or the Retired Reserve.
Dilawar, also known as Dilawar of Yakubi, was an Afghan farmer and taxi driver who was tortured to death by US Army soldiers at the Bagram Collection Point, a US military detention center in Afghanistan.
The Road to Guantánamo, alternatively The Road to Guantanamo, is a British 2006 docudrama film written and directed by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross about the incarceration of three British citizens, who were captured in 2001 in Afghanistan and detained by the United States there and for more than two years at the detainment camp in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. It premiered at the Berlinale on 14 February 2006, and was first shown in the UK on Channel 4 on 9 March 2006. The following day it was the first film to be released simultaneously in cinemas, on DVD, and on the Internet.
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), also called GTMO on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in January 2002 by U.S. President George W. Bush to hold terrorism suspects and "illegal enemy combatants" during the Global War on Terrorism following the attacks of September 11, 2001. As of August 2024, at least 780 persons from 48 countries have been detained at the camp since its creation, of whom 740 had been transferred elsewhere, 9 died in custody, and 30 remain; only 16 detainees have ever been charged by the U.S. with criminal offenses.
Sami Abdul Aziz Salim Allaithy Alkinani is an Egyptian professor who was held in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 287. Analysts reported that he was born on October 28, 1956, in Shubrakass Egypt. He was repatriated to Egypt on September 30, 2005. He was later classified by the United States Department of Defense as a no longer enemy combatant.
Military personnel or military service members are members of the state's armed forces. Their roles, pay, and obligations differ according to their military branch, rank, and their military task when deployed on operations and on exercise.
Battle Assembly is the term used by the United States Army Reserve to describe monthly training, where soldiers practice and perfect their military skills and maintain individual and unit readiness in the event of mobilization and deployment. These training activities were formerly referred to simply as "drill" or "weekend drill", but according to former Chief of the Army Reserve, Lieutenant General James R. Helmly, the term was changed in 2005 to emphasize the need for Army Reserve soldiers' training to focus on continued preparation for fighting the Global War on Terrorism.
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".
United States Army Basic Combat Training (BCT) is the recruit training program of the United States Army, for service in the U.S. Army, U.S. Army Reserve, or the Army National Guard.
Mohammed Rajab Sadiq Abu Ghanim was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba, for almost fifteen years. His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 44. He was eventually transferred to Saudi Arabia
Rayadillo is a blue-and-white striped cotton or flannel material that was used to make the military uniforms worn by Spanish colonial soldiers from the mid 19th century until the early 20th century. It was commonly worn by soldiers posted in overseas Spanish tropical colonies and later, Spanish Morocco and Spanish Guinea.
Beaudry Robert "Bowe" Bergdahl is a former United States Army soldier who was held captive from 2009 to 2014 by the Taliban-aligned Haqqani network in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Tennessee State Guard (TNSG) is the state defense force of the state of Tennessee. The TNSG is organized as a military reserve force whose members drill once per month unless called to active duty. The TNSG is a branch of the Tennessee Military Department, alongside the Tennessee Army National Guard, the Tennessee Air National Guard, and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. The State Guard acts as a force multiplier for the state's National Guard. As a state defense force, the Tennessee State Guard cannot be federalized, and is not deployed outside the borders of Tennessee, as it is a purely state-level unit. It answers solely to the Governor of Tennessee, unlike the dual federal and state controlled National Guard. The creation of a state military force is recognized under Tennessee Code Annotated 58-1-401.
Michael E. Dunlavey is a former major general in the United States Army. Following his retirement from the Army he was elected a State Judge in Erie Pennsylvania.
The Cuban Revolutionary Army serve as the ground forces of Cuba. Formed in 1868 during the Ten Years' War, it was originally known as the Cuban Constitutional Army. Following the Cuban Revolution, the revolutionary military forces was reconstituted as the national army of Cuba by Fidel Castro in 1960. The army is a part of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces which was founded around that time.
In a letter to the army, Congressman Ben Chandler of Kentucky urged the military to turn over Mr Baker's medical records and said his claims were "deeply troubling".
Simpson said Baker received $2,350 a month in military disability benefits, plus $1,000 a month in Social Security, but that he would give it up to have a military job.