Staff Sergeant Daniel Davis, correctional specialist,
Provost Marshall's section, Headquarters & Headquarters Co.,
Special Troops BN, 1st Cavalry Division,
instructs soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry
on how to use pressure points on a non-compliant inmate
without hurting him.

Soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment,
1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division participated
in Brigade Internment Facility Training for their upcoming deployment in Iraq.

Co. A was selected to undertake a three-month mission to supervise and manage
Iraqi prisoners at an undisclosed military correctional facility in Iraq.

The training consists of basic combative training, pressure point recognition
and application, and four cell moves.

In order to give the Soldiers the most realistic training possible, the 1st Cavalry Division selected Staff Sgt. Daniel Davis, correctional specialist, Provost Marshal’s Section, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Special Troops Battalion, 1st CD,
to help the 4th ID unit accomplish their mission because of his hands-on
combat experience dealing with prisoners in his deployment to Afghanistan.

Davis admits that the task that Co. A was given to complete is very hard
and requires an extraordinary amount of discipline but it is not impossible.

“Who wants to look at someone’s face for 12 hours?” said Davis.
“See the same people everyday, do the same thing everyday.
This is a boring task but a very important task to say the least.
The stress from dealing with the prisoners and the closed environment
can get in the way of a Soldiers discipline and this is why it is important
for their battle buddies to be aware of a Soldier’s mental state.”

“If for example, you have a Soldier that becomes enraged,
because a prisoner spit on his face or did not comply with one of his orders,”
said Davis. “It is the other Soldiers responsibility
to take that Soldier out of that room and let him cool off.”

Prisoners become obstacles in a unit’s mission when they become non-compliant.
Not only does it alter the activities of the facility, it also increases the potential
for a dangerous incident to occur.

“Normally when we do hand-to-hand combat it is all about closing in
and destroying the enemy,” said Sgt.1st Class Gilbert Nail, Co. A,
1st Bn. 22nd Inf. Regt. ”In this situation, the training is geared
toward regaining control of the inmate without harming him.
We can use strikes if the inmate becomes a threat to our life,
but the preferred method is to go in with enough personnel so that you don’t have to.”

There were several people that were detained in the previous deployment
that were treated very humanely and they ended up giving us information, said Nail.

“We had quite a few of them thank us for the opportunity to view what was inside
the walls in the palace in Tikrit,” said Nail. “They said that if they would’ve tried
to view inside the palace while Saddam was in power they would’ve been shot.”

The humane treatment of inmates is a priority for Co. A and the entire 1BCT.
Not only does it prevent negative media coverage,
but it helps with the fight against the insurgency.