Montana service members dive GTMO

Photo By 1st Sgt. Daryl Madrid | Residents from Montana hold their state flag while scuba diving in the Caribbean, May 3, 2015 U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (U.S. Army photo by Brian Teal/Released)  

CUBA

05.03.2015

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Daryl Madrid 

Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs

U.S. NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - Residents from the great state of Montana came together May 3, 2015 to clean up the corals of Cuzco Beach with state pride, clearing four bags worth of trash from the fragile eco-system.

Deanna Shaw-Berget, a Department of Defense Education Activity teacher for the installation school, organized a gathering of all the Montanans here on the naval station, and had the idea to go diving together and do an underwater photo with the Montana flag.

Army Col. Jody Miller, Joint Task Force Guantanamo Operations and Plans Director of Operations, coordinated usage of Cuzco beach for the event.

“Who knew we had this many Montanans at GTMO and that most of them dive?” Miller said.

The Montana group had a fun day of diving and beach cleaning, with most of the Montanans on the island.

They started the day as Miller led the group on a nice drift dive from Blue beach to Cuzco beach and saw many beautiful sights along the way, including a giant barracuda, green moray eels, sea turtles and many beautiful reef fish.

At Cuzco beach, they had a nice picnic lunch. Shaw-Berget even made the group authentic butte pasties for a delicious picnic lunch snack! After lunch, the group spent some time cleaning the beach and removed four large trash bags of refuse. The Montanans culminated the day with a 2nd dive in Cuzco Bay, taking a group photo with the Montana flag underwater.

• Date Taken: 05.03.2015
• Date Posted: 05.07.2015 14:40
• Story ID: 162585
• Location: CU
• Hometown: BUTTE, MT, US
• Hometown: HARDIN, MT, US
• Hometown: HELENA, MT, US
• Hometown: LIBBY, MT, US
• Hometown: STEVENSVILLE, MT, US