Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

Bruce Vargo is a

Military Police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, Screening (tactical), ...

officer in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

. He was appointed the commander of

Joint Task Force Guantanamo Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) is a U.S. military joint task force based at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba on the southeastern end of the base. JTF-GTMO falls under US Southern Command. Since January 2002 the command h ...

's Joint Detention Group—its guard force from 2008 to 2009. Vargo was one of the officers interviewed for a National Geographic documentary entitled ''" Inside Guantanamo"''. Vargo confirmed the existence of secret Camp 7, and confirmed that he was responsible for the security at all the other camps, but not Camp 7. Vargo was interviewed in February 2008, about attempts to treat captives more humanely, and to offer classes to provide intellectual stimulation. He defended the new humane efforts on the grounds that captives distracted by classes would be less likely to attack the guards under his command. Vargo was interviewed about the use of extreme force in the force-feeding of

hunger striker A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most h ...

Ahmed Zaid Salim Zuhair Ahmed Zaid Salim Zuhair (born 1965) is a citizen of Saudi Arabia formerly held in extrajudicial detention in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. On August 13, 2008, it was reported that Ahmed Zaid Zuhair had been on a hu ...

. Vargo was previously an award-winning amateur wrestler. Vargo has also competed on the US team of a form of unarmed combat developed in the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

called "

SAMBO , aka = Sombo (in English-speaking countries) , focus = Hybrid , country = Soviet Union , pioneers = Viktor Spiridonov, Vasili Oshchepkov, Anatoly Kharlampiev , famous_pract = List of Practitioners , olym ...

"(short for "SAMozaschita Bez Oruzhiya", self-defense without weapons ).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vargo, Bruce Living people Guantanamo Bay detention camp Year of birth missing (living people)