Unique service provided

Photo By Spc. Archie Corbitt | Army Staff Sgt. Rebeca Beltre, Joint Detention Group property book non-commissioned officer at Joint Task Force Guantanamo, stacks freshly washed detainee laundry, April 19. The JDG is responsible for more than 2,000 pounds of detainee laundry each week.  

GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA

04.23.2010

Story by Spc. Archie Corbitt 

Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - The average service member at Guantanamo Bay probably does a load or two of laundry each week.

Imagine washing more than a ton of socks, shirts and other clothing items.

That's the mountain of clothes washed each week by the Navy Exchange laundry and dry cleaning service here – totaling more than 60 tons each year.

The naval station's laundry and dry cleaning service is arguably the most unique in the Navy.

"The laundry service here mainly supports the [service members] in terms of uniform preparation," said Gregory Hunter, services supervisor for NEX laundry. "We take care of dry cleaning needs for all branches of services and perform tailoring for dress uniforms."

In addition to that mission, however, the laundry services the Joint Detention Group in the care and cleaning of detainee laundry, too.

"There is a devoted group of employees here that focus mainly on the preparation and cleaning of clothing for the detainees," Hunter said. "We have separate machines that are used [strictly] for detainee laundry."

Army Sgt. Jordan Wheeler, laundry non-commissioned officer with the JDG, said it's nice to have such a capable laundry facility aboard the naval station.

"It's good for us, because we can take our stuff to the NEX laundry and have it back in two days," Wheeler said. "We drop off about 1,500 pounds of clothes per drop twice a week."

That amounts to approximately 132,000 pounds of detainee laundry a year for the JDG alone, said Kathryn Kirkwood, NEX operations services manager. The JTF accounts for more than half of the total workload of the laundry, she said.

Some might find it odd that in addition to taking care of dry cleaning service, the NEX laundry also manages tailoring services and car rentals.

The odd combination is necessary, according to Kirkwood, because Guantanamo is considered a remote duty location.

"In most cases, we would contract out for laundry service and other services," Kirkwood said. "Here we don't have the option of going into the community, so we are the only NEX outside the continental United States that owns and operates its own services."

Kirkwood said the laundry operates 15 washers and dryers to accommodate the massive amounts of laundry generated by the naval station and its tenant commands. She said the prices are comparable to those of laundry service providers in the states.

• Date Taken: 04.23.2010
• Date Posted: 05.03.2010 12:28
• Story ID: 49048
• Location: GUANTANAMO BAY, CU