Sean Baker

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Sean Baker, a native of Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, is a United States Air Force veteran and former member of the Kentucky National Guard, who served during the first Gulf War, and as a member of the 438th Military Police at Guantanamo Bay.

In January 2003, Baker was ordered by an officer at Guantanamo to pretend to be a prisoner in a training drill. As per instruction, Baker wore an orange prison jumpsuit over his uniform and crawled under a bunk in a cell, so an "internal reaction force" consisting of four (possibly five) US soldiers could practice extracting an uncooperative inmate from his cell. The soldiers in the reaction force were operating under the impression that he was a genuine detainee that 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 of the facility 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 was an U.S. solider, the soldier continued beating Baker's head against the floor and choking him. Only after ripping 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 SOUTHCOM questioned the validity of Baker's injuries, and denied that his medical discharge was related to the training drill. However, the Physical Evaluation Board stated in a document on September 29, 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."

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 due only in part to 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.

In light of recent allegations of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, the mistreatment of this U.S. soldier (posing as a prisoner) has created an additional public relations burden for the military. Military spokepeople have consistently stated that the Guantanamo detainees have been treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention, despite their indefinite legal status. If Baker were to receive disability retirement pay due to injuries received in this incident, the legal petitions of U.S. military detainees might be made stronger.

Baker filed a lawsuit in May 2005, against Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey, Secretary of the Navy Gordon 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.

Baker still wants to serve his country, in the Army, and thinks the Army can find him a job that accommodates his disability.^[1] As of June 2005 Baker receives $2,350 a month in military disability benefits, plus $1,000 a month in Social Security, which he would have to give up if the Army finds a way to reinstate a position for him.

A June 2005 BBC story reports Kentucky Congressman Ben Chandler "urged the military to turn over Mr. Baker's medical records."

A June 2005 LA Times story quotes an unnamed official about the Baker incident: "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,"