By LEONARD GRAY – Managing Editor

LAPLACE – It took Darryl Vizzini Jr. a while to manage it, but he’s finally on the road, serving and protecting St. John the Baptist Parish – after a side trip to Cuba.

Vizzini, 30, a resident of LaPlace for five years, has served in the Army National Guard for more than 12 years; his unit based in Baton Rouge.

He started with the sheriff’s office in December 1998, as part of an anti-drug task force assigned to the Narcotics Division.

However, he needed to complete the Police Academy and he was called up to serve with the Guard before he could complete the six-week course in Baton Rouge.

Then Sept. 11 came along and changed his life. That day, he was cutting grass at his home when a neighbor told him about the attack on the World Trade Center. For months, he waited and waited for mobilization, and he was finally called up in January.

His assignment? Not the Middle East. Instead, he went to Fort Polk for homeland security activity in Operation Noble Eagle. Then, in June, Vizzini was reassigned to Guantanamo Bay on the eastern tip of Cuba, joining a multi-service base guarding al-Queda and Taliban “detainees” from several nations in Operation Enduring Freedom.

The experience was different, to say the least, Vizzini said. Malaria, hepatitis and a surly group, few of whom spoke English, but who communicated by throwing waste at their guards.

“We did everything for them,” he related. “Fresh linens, showers, recreation, medications, comfort items.” Islamic prayers echoed through the camp six times a day and the 700-plus detainees of “Camp GTMO” would go on hunger strikes and even a few suicide attempts were tried.

Average temperature in Cuba during those months was 120 degrees, and rain was extremely rare.

The guards formed a tight-knit family and endured many hardships together, including Vizzini’s engagement being called off by e-mail.

Since returning, Vizzini finally completed his Police Academy training and is now serving in Road Division.

“Would I go back? I would,” Vizzini said. “You do have to understand what you’re doing it for.”

He’s delighting in being out of the military routine and is now pursing a criminal justice degree from the University of Phoenix. Meanwhile, his attitude is “to be happy with what I’ve got. I worked for it.”