This Is Where You're Going If You Screw Up at USMC Camp Hansen

Camp Hansen CCU rocks — Brig Marines simulate hard labor during a Correctional Custody Unit demonstration Jan. 12 in the Brig aboard Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan. Awardees, Marines assigned to the CCU, will spend seven or 30 days under constant surveillance completing hard labor, formal uniform inspections, combat fitness training and values-based relapse prevention training. The Correctional Custody Unit is scheduled to open their doors Feb. 14 at the Brig aboard Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan. The curriculum is designed to foster leadership and decision making abilities in order to have a lasting impact that better supports long term restoration.

Camp Hansen CCU brig marines — Brig Marines simulate being awardees during a Correctional Custody Unit demonstration Jan. 12 in the Brig aboard Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan. Awardees, Marines assigned to the CCU, will spend seven or 30 days under constant surveillance completing hard labor, formal uniform inspections, combat fitness training and values-based relapse prevention training. The Correctional Custody Unit is scheduled to open their doors Feb. 14 at the Brig aboard Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan. The curriculum is designed to foster leadership and decision making abilities in order to have a lasting impact that better supports long term restoration.

Camp Hansen CCU watch guard — Brig Marines simulate a day in the Correctional Custody Unit during a demonstration Jan. 12 in the Brig aboard Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan. Awardees, Marines assigned to the CCU, will spend seven or 30 days under constant surveillance completing hard labor, formal uniform inspections, combat fitness training and values-based relapse prevention training. Awardee supervision is ongoing 24 hours a day, seven days a week, throughout the 30 and seven day course. The Correctional Custody Unit is scheduled to open their doors Feb. 14 at the Brig aboard Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan. The curriculum is designed to foster leadership and decision making abilities in order to have a lasting impact that better supports long term restoration.

Camp Hansen CCU rock pile — Lance Cpl. Eric Johnston simulates hard labor during a Correctional Custody Unit demonstration Jan. 12 in the Brig aboard Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan. Awardees, Marines assigned to the CCU, will spend seven or 30 days under constant surveillance completing hard labor, formal uniform inspections, combat fitness training and values-based relapse prevention training. The Correctional Custody Unit is scheduled to open their doors Feb. 14 at the Brig aboard Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan. The curriculum is designed to foster leadership and decision making abilities in order to have a lasting impact that better supports long term restoration. Johnston is a correctional specialist with Headquarters and Support Battalion, Marine Corps Installations Pacific-Marine Corps Base Camp Butler, Japan.

Camp Hansen CCU guard — Sgt. Dustin Owens observes awardees during a Correctional Custody Unit demonstration Jan. 12 in the Brig aboard Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan. Awardees, Marines assigned to the CCU, will spend seven or 30 days under constant surveillance completing hard labor, formal uniform inspections, combat fitness training and values-based relapse prevention training. Awardees will always be under the supervision of a senior watch stander and assigned watch standers. The Correctional Custody Unit is scheduled to open their doors Feb. 14 at the Brig aboard Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan. Owens is a senior watch stander with Headquarters and Support Battalion, Marine Corps Installations Pacific-Marine Corps Base Camp Butler, Japan.

The USMC has announced it is opening up a new correctional unit at Camp Hansen in Okinawa, Japan.

According to the presser, the Camp Hansen Correctional Custody Unit (CCU), which opens its doors on Feb. 14, is designed for Marines involved in cases of “minor misconduct” and will serve as an alternative to administrative separation. The goal here is to reduce early discharges among first term junior enlisted Devil Dogs.

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“This will provide an opportunity for good Marines to recover from a slight misstep, as well as return to the ranks free of stigma with an opportunity for redemption,” said Chief Warrant Officer Brian Sheppard the Brig Commanding Officer, Headquarters and Support Battalion, Marine Corps Installations Pacific-Marine Corps Base Camp Butler, Japan. ‘Compared to the alternatives such as administrative separation, ‘babysitting,’ restriction, extra duty, and forfeitures, CCU has the capability to really motivate a Marine and produce a far more fit, disciplined, capable, and fired-up Marine back into the ranks.”

Those assigned to the CCU will be called “awardees” and will spend anywhere between seven and 30 days under constant surveillance while completing hard labor and uniform inspections. They’ll also be undergoing “combat fitness training and values-based relapse prevention training,” the Corps said.

Judging from the photos, the training portion of the program involves hitting a pile of rocks with a sledgehammer.

“‘The rock pile’ is a form of team building and motivational strength training,” Chief Warrant Officer 5 Joseph Moschetto, the corrections section head for Headquarters Marine Corps, told Task & Purpose. “A small group of awardees swing sledgehammers to break rocks or concrete. Each swing is led, in cadence, in unison, with voice commands from the CCU instructor.

“Awardees participating in the rock pile repeat motivational chants, similar to running cadence rhymes and rhythms. The rock pile is considered physical training, therefore participants conducting the exercise cannot be restricted to any medical limitations or light duty.”

Moschetto added that Marines would wear protective gear like glasses, gloves when hitting the rock pile. In addition, the rock pile portion of the program will occur “once each Monday through Friday,” with each awardee getting 25 strikes with the sledgehammer.

The CCU’s curriculum is to “foster leadership and decision-making abilities,” the service said, with a goal toward “long term restoration.”

“Awardee supervision is ongoing 24 hours a day, seven days a week, throughout the 30 and seven day course,” said Gunnery Sgt. Loren Ortiz, the CCU staff noncommissioned officer in charge, H&S Bn., MCIPAC-MCB Camp Butler, Japan. “There will always be a senior watch stander, and his assigned watch standers on duty from reception to graduation. Weekly counselings will also be conducted and annotated in their weekly progress summary by our assigned corrections counselor. Commands are also highly encouraged to check on their Marines during command visitations.”

Ideally, when a Marine graduates from the Camp Hansen CCU, he’ll be “re-educated, refocused and re-greened.”

“I hope commanders take an honest look at this alternative because I see this program has great potential to mitigate first term discharges,” said Sheppard. “Restriction is not motivating. Extra duties are not motivating. Those Marines are negatively labeled, and for the most part see these punishments as career ending; this punishment alone is seldom corrective. Instead give the Marine an opportunity. Remove them from that state, send them to CCU, get them re-motivated and remind these men and women why they put their feet on the yellow foot prints.”