NC National Guardsmen playing role at Guantanamo Bay prison

At Guantanamo Bay, visitors can see the razor wire and a guard tower, which keeps watch on the 40 detainees who are currently housed in the facilities, a number that is sharply lower than the 700 prisoners who have been held at the site over the years.

The inmates who call the detention center home are described as being some of America's greatest enemies.

One of those inmates is Khalid Shekh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack. One of his fellow inmates includes the man alleged to have been the 13th airplane hijacker.

The day-to-day existence of the detainees does not come with many frills.

The international community has been critical of the way some detainees have been treated.

WRAL News has been told they have been tortured and held for an extended period of time without facing specific charges. And legal counsel had not been provided in a timely manner, say some familiar with how the detention center works.

Rear Admiral John Ring is now in charge of the facility that Amnesty International has said in the past was the site of human rights violations.

"I don't know what happened then," he said. "All I can tell you is that I know what's happening now. I know that our troopers are very professional. They're very disciplined, (and) they do their mission according to very strict standard operating procedures. I am very proud of them, and American can be proud of the mission that these troopers are doing down here today."

One of those soldiers is SFC Michael Grady, a North Carolina native.

When he's at home, he works as a detective with the Greenville Police Department. In Cuba, he an MP with the National Guard's 514th Military Police Company.

"What goes on here is sensitive, yet very important," he said. "We (have) got to make sure that we maintain that level of security and respect what goes on here and why things go on here."

The guardsmen from North Carolina have been working at the Cuba base for just about a year, and many suggest they are ready to return home.