Reservist from Jackson interrogates terrorists

GOING TO GUANTANAMO BAY

By Scott Moyers ~ Southeast Missourian

An Arabic-speaking U.S. Army reservist from Jackson, Mo., has joined a military intelligence unit at Camp X-Ray in Cuba, where 158 captured detainees in the war on terrorism are being held.

Capt. Scott Hensley departed for Guantanamo Bay Saturday, leaving with the 504th Military Intelligence Brigade from Fort Hood in Texas, where he has been stationed since he was activated Oct. 18.

He arrived Saturday night at the oldest overseas U.S. military post, which is now home to 1,300 U.S. military personnel.

"We will be assisting in gathering information concerning the detainee operations," Hensley said the day before he left. "We're dealing with the suspected terrorist. Our mission is to assist in the gathering of information."

Hensley said security considerations prevent him from sharing too many details about what his job will be, though it will certainly involve interrogation. Hensley is an Arabic voice interceptor who also speaks German. In addition to interpreting, he listens to military and civilian radio broadcasts in Arabic and translates them for military intelligence.

The inmates are suspected terrorists who fought for either al-Qaida or the ousted Taliban regime that sheltered the terrorist network. They are kept in temporary cells made of chain-link fencing set on a cement slab, open to the elements.

Hensley said he's not too nervous.

"From my understanding, it won't really be that dangerous," he said. "They've got these people under pretty close watch."

Hensley said he is serving a two-year tour, but he hopes he will be rotated back home by September.

Originally from Long Island, N.Y., and later Arkansas, Hensley and his family moved to Southeast Missouri in 1999 after he left the Army following eight years of full-time service. He came to Jackson to take a supervisor's job at Rubbermaid Closet Organization Products.

Was ready to go Sept. 11

Hensley has left behind his wife, 31-year-old Toye Hensley, who is manager of Doctor's ValuVision in Cape Girardeau. The couple has three daughters: Brittany, 13, Ashley, 8, and Megan, 7.

"It's going to be hard being away from my family, but it's something we just have to do," said Hensley, who is a platoon leader and executive officer for his unit, which is based in both St. Louis and Texas. "It's our duty."

Toye Hensley said her husband felt his call to duty the morning of Sept. 11, as he watched the terrorist-guided planes crash into the World Trade Center towers.

"He was ready to go the minute it happened," she said.

Naturally, no one in the family was glad to see him go, Toye Hensley said, but she gets some consolation because he wasn't sent farther away.

"I'm glad he's there versus the alternative," she said, referring indirectly to Afghanistan. "And he likes what he does."

Toye Hensley hasn't spoken to her husband since he left, but she said the family is getting by with help from friends, co-workers and neighbors. But it's still not easy.

"You don't think about how much you depend upon the other person in your life," she said. "But you've got to do what you've got to do."

Proud, but sad

Since Hensley left, he has only seen his family for a week around Christmas.

"I'm proud he's doing this for us," said Brittany, a seventh-grader. "Then again, I'm sad he's going away. But he wanted to be in the Army, so he's probably doing what he wants to do."

Ashley draws pictures of her father and scribbles notes to him, telling him that she hopes he comes home soon.

Megan said she wants her father to come home so he can pick her up, tickle her and put her on his head.

"I miss him," she said.

Brittany said she concentrates on making her father proud and living up to a promise that she made before she watched his plane fly away a few months back.

"He told me to be good and take care of Mom," she said. "I've been trying to do that."

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137