Staff Sgt. Paul Meeker of the Louisiana Army National Guard recently returned home from his deployment to the Guantanamo Detention Facility in Cuba. He rejoins his wife, Joan Soboloff, his daughter, Sarah Meeker, and stepchildren Hope and Philip Watson.

While at Gitmo, Meeker served as part of the 241st Mobile Public Affairs detachment and was editor of the facility’s 16-page weekly newsmagazine “The Wire.” The “wire” surrounds the detainment facility, so “inside the wire” means that one is inside the facility itself.

As part of his duties, Meeker wrote real-time news stories for both the weekly magazine and the military’s Web sites. His focus was often on troopers working inside the wire.

Staff Sgt. Paul Meeker and wife, Joan

Meeker explained that many of the people still detained at the facility could be sent home, but conditions in their countries have delayed this. Some countries do not want them to ever return, while other detainees are being held at the facility awaiting trial.

He said he was amazed at how our system of freedom works in handling these detainees suspected of terrorist activities. The legal wranglings between military prosecutors and attorneys is a real testament to our form of government, he said.

Meeker said many of the news clips of events at Gitmo are accompanied by older stock footage. Part of his assignment was to bring more transparency to Gitmo coverage, including the distribution of updated photos of the facility.

In civilian life, Meeker works as a curriculum coordinator for the St. Tammany Parish School Board at the Harrison Curriculum Center in Covington.

For eight years, he served as head of Christ Episcopal’s middle school and also taught English and social studies.

While at Christ Episcopal on Sept. 11, 2001, he said it was his job to inform the students of what had happened. They were in a Eucharist service at the church when the event took place, and many parents were present. Cell phones were going off, and some of the students left at that time with their parents. He had an assembly to inform them of the events when they returned to the school.

Meeker served in Iraq during 2003 on a transport team that delivered supplies from the port in Kuwait to troops stationed inside the country. He was in the country when the statue of Saddam was toppled, although he was not in Baghdad at that moment.

His wife said this was the worst.

“You literally do not breathe (while they are in Iraq) from the time they leave until they get home,” she said.

Meeker said that most reservists and National Guardsmen are at least 10 years older than their ranking counterpart in the “regular” troops. He said they are valued by the military because of their real life experiences, skills and maturity.

He has been on active duty since March 30, 2007, and will return to his civilian job May 26 in time for the next school year preparation after a little R&R.