Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Pfc. Jonathan J. Springer was born and raised in Columbia City, and graduated from Columbia City High School in 1998. He attended the University of Saint Francis on a football scholarship and studied Communications and Business.
Springer enlisted into the Army and graduated from the Defense Information School's journalism school in October of 2003. In January, he deployed with the 16th MP Brigade (Airborne)and currently is Victory Camp, Iraq, where he handling all media relations. He has offered to e-mail periodic reports to the Times-Union.
His parents, Jim and Kathy Spr,inger and his sister, Jessica, live in Warsaw.
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Abu Ghraib Prison, Iraq - With the current non-stop negative media attention surrounding Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq, one would be hard-pressed to believe that anything good was actually going on there.
But in all actuality, there are numerous great things going on at Abu Ghraib, and those good doings can be attributed to the standard-exceeding 16th Military Police Brigade (Airborne) out of Fort Bragg, N.C.
"First of all, I just want to set the record straight; the unit before us did an outstanding job before we got here in February, minus a few soldiers," said Lt. Col. Craig A. Essick, commander of the 391st MP BN out of Columbus, Ohio.
The 16th MP BDE (ABN) took over for the 800th MP BDE in early February, and the 391st MP BN is currently stationed at the prison; when the news broke about the prisoner abuse allegations, Essick said that it was hard on some of the soldiers in the battalion.
"Morale here has been excellent and we haven't seen a decrease yet," said Essick. "But I won't lie to you, it has been tough on some because of the allegations, though."
Command Sgt. Maj. John W. Vacho, CSM for the 391st, said everyone knew they were going to have their work cut out for them when they arrived at the prison, but the battalion had a lot of experience and would get the job done.
"We knew that things would be run differently than it was previously because we have really got some great noncommissioned officer leadership here," said Vacho.
Deployments are not new to this battalion, and Vacho said a lot of their soldiers are corrections officers back in their civilian jobs, so working with prisoners is nothing new.
"One thing that we as a battalion pride ourselves on is treating our prisoners with dignity and respect. Because you have got to always remember that those detainees are humans just like you and I are," said Vacho in a serious tone.
Vacho commented that he and his soldiers have always kept the philosophy of treating others as you would like to be treated yourself, and that goes with the detainees at the prison, too.
"I totally agree with what Command Sgt. Maj. Vacho said. We always treat everybody, and that includes the prisoners here, with respect and dignity," said Essick.
Essick went on to say that everybody is truly doing a fantastic job at the prison, and the medics in particular are really working hard.
"Our medics aren't only treating the soldiers, they are treating the prisoners."
Vacho added that the medics here at Abu Ghraib are treating more than 1,200 prisoners a month and are doing whatever it takes to help these detainees every day.
"You know one thing that the media will never talk about is just how good our soldiers' rapport with the detainees is here," said Maj. Gary E. Link, executive officer for the battalion.
Soldiers' interaction with detainess has been nothing but positive, and Link said that when you can keep the prisoners' morale up, it makes the prison guards' jobs much easier.
"We have done so much good since we got here. We've got a new food contractor for the prisoners, and let me tell you, they have put on some weight because of it," laughed Link. "Also, we have installed new showers for detainees, prayer tents for them and we even let them play volleyball, too."
Link also said that every prisoner gets visitation rights with family and friends.
"We get to spend a lot of time with the radio and we hear of the prisoner abuse, but the Americans are treating us very good. The food is good now, we get plenty of water and we get to visit with our family and friends," said Abd Hatm, a prisoner at Abu Ghraib.
With the constant media attention surrounding the Abu Ghraib Prison mostly being negative in nature, the good works being performed by the 16th MP BDE (ABN) and the 391st MP BN are being overlooked in favor of coverage of the prisoner abuse scandal.
Though that doesn't deter the brigade from accomplishing it's mission, soldiers who are a part of the 16th and the 391st want to make sure people understand that they weren't apart of the allegations, and that they are doing their best to exceed the standards and treat every prisoner with dignity and respect.
