Staff sergeant puts veterans to work

Between the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and Cuba-controlled territory is a perilous patch of earth called the Cactus Curtain. Spiked with a needle bed of Optunia cacti planted in 1961 to keep Cubans from defecting into U.S. custody, it is even deadlier as the second-largest minefield on the planet. In the summer of 1993, Joe Reagan checked into his first overseas assignment in Castro country three days after seeing A Few Good Men, the Aaron Sorkin-penned Jack Nicholson drama that defined Gitmo for a decade before the post-9/11 rebranding of black hoods and orange jumpsuits took hold. To read the full story by Editor Jeff Roedel in the current issue of 225 magazine, click here.