COL (Ret) Austin Schmidt enters the Command of Forward Operation Base Camp Bucca and takes charge.

“So I’m the Colonel,” he states more than asking.

“Yes Sir,” one of the lower ranks agrees.

“So I’m the Big Bird,” he states again.

“Sir, that’s not dignified,” he says, shocked that the COL would mention something like that as his call sign.

“You haven’t seen nothin’ yet.”

***

In 2005, Schmidt was pulled out of retirement and deployed overseas to Abu Ghraib in Iraq… Once there he talks to the man in charge.

The man asks, “So what do you think of Abu Ghraib?”

“YUCK!” Schmidt says truthfully back.

“Okay, good. I have something for you to do.” This man sent the COL to Camp Bucca to work with the detainees.

While at this camp, Schmidt and his men helped with the area. They built three schools, built a water works system, established a bus company, got a cement factory going, built an electrical transference station, and last but definitely not least, got the first woman’s clinic going.

Schmidt said, “My troops were marvelous.”

And if you haven’t noticed by now, he doesn’t lie.

His troops were Active Duty, Reserved, and National Guard.

They were also representatives of every branch of the military.

His troops worked together to complete all of their missions.

Having 25% women was interesting.

Schmidt thought they were even more awesome because 17% of the troops that went to combat were women, and they were some of the best.

***

As one of the largest defense operations in the world, this will come as a shock for you to know that this place actually existed.

The reason you really don’t hear about Camp Bucca is because there were no scandals.

Maybe a couple of riots here and there when the detainees thought they were being treated unfair.

But COL Schmidt let us in on a secret they had.

He said that when a riot would start up, they had a fire truck close by.

They would put dyes in the water and spray the detainees.

The ones involved would turn up a different color than the rest, so it would be easier to distinguish which was which.

Many of the detainees stayed in Camp Bucca for years, some a little less, all depending on how long it took to create a good, solid report against them.

Some of the detainees, if they stayed longer than 2 years, would be released for “Time served”.