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Sailors hoist anchor, depart for Kuwait

LAWTON, Okla. — A Naval unit will hoist anchor and depart for a mission to Kuwait.

A farewell ceremony was held at Fort Sill on Friday for several members of the Navy Joint Service Training Organization 08-07 Theater Field Confinement Facility Detachment Foxtrot. They completed confinement training at Fort Sill after undergoing combat preparations at Fort Lewis, Wash., officials said.

The unit is made up of active and reserve sailors who come from different installations worldwide and have specialties ranging from culinary to machine repair, missile technician and aviation administration, said Col. Gary Russell, commander of Fort Sill’s Mobilization and Deployment Brigade.

Their mission will be to provide theater field confinement operations for U.S. military prisoners at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.

“Some have never been mobilized, while others have done several mobilizations. Their ages vary from 21 to 59,” Detachment Commander Richard Mauldin, who described the sailors’ Spartan living conditions at Fort Lewis, where they stayed in World War II-era, open-bay barracks with no modern conveniences.

“We had some unique bonding experiences that pulled us all together successfully. Who can forget sticking a breathing tube down your buddy’s nose, going through the gas chamber and, last but not least, being pepper-sprayed?” Mauldin said.

“We made it through all these hardships in training, and not one person failed in evolution.”