Extreme Reaction Force
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The Extreme Reaction Force (ERF) is the name of Camp Delta's alleged punishment squad, located on Guantanamo Bay, a United States prison camp reserved mostly for Illegal combatants, who are — according to the US — not protected by the Geneva Conventions.
According to ex-inmates, an attack by the ERF would be prompted by minor disciplinary infractions, such as refusing to agree to the third cell search in a day.
An ex-inmate describes one alleged assault by a five-man ERF in these terms: 'They pepper-sprayed me in the face, and I started vomiting. They pinned me down and attacked me, poking their fingers in my eyes, and forced my head into the toilet pan and flushed. They tied me up like a beast and then they were kneeling on me, kicking and punching. Finally they dragged me out of the cell in chains, into the recreation yard, and shaved my beard, my hair, my eyebrows.'
These frequent treatments lead to the creation of a new verb, coined by the prisoners: 'To be ERFed', meaning being slammed against a floor by a soldier wielding a riot shield, pinned to the ground and beaten up by five armed men.