The Brown and White -- Janelle Pham, a graduate student who went to Iraq as a member of the Military Police Corps, shared her experiences as a prison guard personally responsible for prisoners of war in Iraq on Sept. 30 at Packer House.

Pham said she always saw herself joining the reserves. She often played with G.I. Joes as a child, which only further motivated her desire to be in the reserves.

Photo: Janelle Pham, a graduate student in sociology and anthropology, is a member of the U.S. Army’s 744th Military Police Battalion in Bethlehem.

"It just seemed natural that I'd one day end up in the reserves. Our freedoms don't come for free, and I'm happy to serve for all of you," Pham said.

While an undergraduate at Moravian College, Pham was a member of the ROTC program at Lehigh.

Pham enlisted in the reserves in February 2006. In September 2007, she received her deployment call, and by January 2008 she headed to duty. Pham had just finished her undergraduate studies a month earlier.

On the day that Pham enlisted, she inquired about which position would earn her the most money. At the time, the answer was a Military Police Corps prison guard.

"That sealed my fate pretty much. I was going overseas," Pham said.

On Jan. 12, 2007, Pham left for Fort Dicks, N.J., where she spent about four months in training.

Training is dictated by the particular job one will perform overseas, Pham said. She said the army puts incredible emphasis on training. Pham's training consisted of aspects like how to handle detainees and the steps to keeping them under control.

From Fort Dicks, Pham flew to Kuwait. She spent two weeks there getting acclimated to the new weather and the general climate, as there was extreme dry heat.

Pham said temperatures were higher than 100 degrees Fahrenheit on a regular basis. It was almost always windy, and the ground was only sand.

During her time in Kuwait, Pham witnessed a dust storm. She said she remembers it vividly, as it was something she could only experience while overseas.

From Kuwait, Pham went to Iraq and was stationed on victory base Camp Proper.

Seventy percent of Camp Proper is a prison for detainees. Prisoners are separated from one another based on various reasons, such as disability or religion, according to Pham.

There are two sides to the prisoners' camp: the disciplinary side for prisoners who show bad behavior and an administrative side for prisoners who have mental health issues.

Pham worked in disciplinary housing, which is an area that females were not allowed in at the beginning of the war, she said.

"The first time I walked in there I was scared, totally frightened," Pham said.

She said her job overseas centered around one mission toward the prisoners: "Care, custody, control with dignity and respect."

Working 12-hour shifts, six days a week, Pham said her job was exhausting. Her daily routine consisted of going to the gym, eating and working her 12-hour shift.

Pham said because many of the prisoners try to commit suicide, it was necessary to check the prisoners every 15 minutes to make sure they were alive, a procedure known as "15 minute checks."

If a prisoner was on suicide watch, it was necessary to check him every five minutes, rather than the standard 15, to make sure he was alive, Pham said.

In fact, Pham said she once saw a prisoner hanging himself, but guards managed to get him down before he died.

She also witnessed men with mental health problems talking to the walls and a man who insisted on dipping his bread in the toilet before eating it.

The prisoners received three meals and two hours of recreation daily. Their recreation took place in a recreation cell, which is a single person cell. If a prisoner talked or attempted to talk to any other prisoner he would lose his recreation privilege, Pham said.

Pham established her control over the prisoners and did not let them feel that they had any control over her, she said. The control process, Pham said, was to start with a verbal warning when prisoners acted up. If they continued the behavior, guards would make them aware of the force they could potentially use against them, without actually using it. If that was unsuccessful, then it became necessary to use that force.

Pham said she had several instances where she had to resort to force and used a Taser and pepper spray on prisoners.

"Very quickly you learn that you need to be scary," she said. "As a female, you have to lose that female side of you- you're working in a prison."

Z'hara Green, '12, said that while she respects the work of prison guards, she would never consider joining the reserves.

"I am not planning on going into the reserves, but I really enjoyed the lecture," Green said. "As far as myself in her shoes, I have a ton of respect for what she does, but I would never be able to do it."

Meghan Eichner, '12 shared a similar view.

"I could never do what she does," Eichner said. "I had no idea about any of this until she just shared it with us. I have complete respect for her."

Judith Lasker, a professor in the Sociology and Anthropology Department, said she believed the purpose of Pham's talk was to give listeners an idea of what life is like on a day-to-day basis as a member of the reserves.

"It was fascinating because it is something we rarely get to hear about," Lasker said. "We think of them sort of abstractly, but for most people it's a day-to-day job."

Lasker also said she believes it is interesting for Pham to be in the sociology field now and be able to analyze the whole process of the transition from war to home.

Pham is now a Sergeant in the U.S. Army. She is in the reserves under an eight-year contract. During the last year of the contract, Pham could be called back to Afghanistan at any time.

Pham received her undergraduate degree from Moravian College. She is on the path to obtain her master's degree from Lehigh University in Sociology and Anthropology. Pham said she hopes to obtain her master's degree before being summoned back to Afghanistan.

==Another news story==

Lehigh Unviersity -- While many of Lehigh’s first-year graduate students make the transition from undergraduate to graduate life, Janelle Pham is accomplishing the passage from military to civilian life. Walking through Lehigh’s leafy Asa Packer campus is a welcome change for Pham, who spent the past year working within the confines of an Iraqi internment camp in Baghdad.

Pham is a graduate student in the department of sociology and anthropology. But while her fellow students spend weekends relaxing and studying, Pham is fulfilling the remainder of an eight-year commitment to the U.S. Army Reserve.

Pham enlisted in the Army in February 2006 while she was an undergraduate student at Moravian College. She completed the requirements for a bachelor’s degree in history the following December, and less than a month later was scheduled to deploy.

"It seemed natural for me to end up in military service," says Pham. "Too often we don’t think about the awesome freedoms we have and that they don’t come for free. Someone’s got to do it and I’m happy to do so."

After receiving her deployment call, Pham spent four months at Fort Dix in New Jersey, where the Army turned her from a college student into a military police officer. Assigned to work as a guard in the Iraqi internment camps, Pham had to understand the physical and often-times psychological pressures that awaited her in Iraq.

Amazing strides

First, Pham’s tiny 5-foot, 130-pound frame was weighted down with 75 to 80 pounds of body armor, ammunition, fire arms and first aid equipment. The weight alone knocked an inch off her height by the time she returned. During her training she learned the effects of pepper spray first-hand when she was sprayed in the face prior to running an obstacle course. While the tactic sounds harsh, it prepared her to understand the use of non-lethal weapons.

"As a female, you pretty much have to lose that female side of you. But in terms of gender, it’s amazing the strides we’ve made in terms of equality," says Pham.

Once Pham and her unit arrived in Iraq, she was assigned to a special housing unit within the camp. As an MP, Pham guarded at-risk prisoners with behavioral or disciplinary problems, or those who had been placed on suicide watch. Prior to her deployment, Pham had served at the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, to grasp the rigors of prison life. Yet, that experience never quite prepared her for the challenge that awaited her.

"The first time I walked into the special housing unit, it was only about three weeks after we arrived in Iraq. I was scared and totally frightened," says Pham. "You quickly learn that you need to appear mean and strong. Our motto while we were there was ‘care, custody and control, with dignity and respect.’"

Since returning to Bethlehem, Pham has had to adjust her routine. While in Iraq, she worked 12-hour shifts, 6 days a week from 2 a.m. to 2 p.m. Most of her time outside work was spent watching movies and working out at the gym. Easy access to computers and Internet service allowed her to keep in touch daily with family and friends at home.

Gearing up for the 4 Deserts

Today, Pham, a member of the 744th Military Police Battalion of Bethlehem, spends her weekdays pursuing her master’s degree and one weekend a month continuing her military training. She hopes to further study in the areas of human sexuality and social stratification.

Recently, Pham spoke about her experiences with the Army Reserve and in Iraq at an event at the Packer House that was sponsored by the Graduate Student Life Office and the Global Union.

"Janelle brings a unique set of experiences to the table," says Heather Johnson, director of graduate studies in the department of sociology and anthropology. "Her professional and career experience—and her life experience—with the Army, and in Iraq, make a powerful impact on her contribution to our program and to her own education.

"She brings a fresh and important perspective to our class conversations, our graduate program, our department, and to Lehigh as a whole. I am especially pleased that we were able to award her a teaching assistantship; this gives Janelle a chance to make an even more profound impact on the Lehigh community by working directly with undergraduate students."

If school and military service weren’t enough, Pham is also training for a grueling race through the Atacama Crossing in Chile as part of the 4 Deserts, a series of seven-day, 250-kilometer footraces across the world’s largest and most forbidding deserts. Pham will run the endurance event to raise money for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a non-partisan, non-profit, legal services, watchdog and policy organization dedicated to ending discrimination against and harassment of military personnel affected by "Don’t Ask, Don't Tell."

"Grad school," she says, "is painless now."