Military Police contains information about military police functions in maneuver and mobility support, area security, law and order, internment/resettlement, and police intelligence operations.
Issue link: https://militarypolice.epubxp.com/i/115206
We are becoming a smaller force; and if we don't step outside of our comfort zone, see the bigger picture, and embrace the fact that all offcers (commissioned, warrant, and noncommissioned) must shoulder additional responsibilities in Army 2020, the entire Army will suffer. The warrant offcers of today are flling more prominent roles as leaders, staff offcers, and advisors in strategic- and operational-level organizations. Warrant offcers who fail to take advantage of broadening assignments and increased opportunities for professional military education will be left behind as mere technical experts. They will also miss an opportunity to help make warrant offcers more relevant to Army senior leaders. Endnotes: The Army Training and Leader Development Panel ATLDP Phase III—Warrant Offcer Study, Final Report, 18 July 2002. 1 DA Pam 600-3, Commissioned Offcer Professional Development and Career Management, 1 February 2010. 2 Letter to the Editor: Thoughts on "Military Police Posture" By Lieutenant Colonel Florentino Santana A s a military police offcer with many years of civilian law enforcement experience, I was glad to see one of our military police leaders argue that military police should be allowed to carry their weapons in what the Army calls "red" status (with a round in the chamber) while on duty. In his article entitled "Military Police Weapons Posture" (Military Police, Spring 2012), Regimental Chief Warrant Offcer David Albaugh does a great job of explaining how military police on duty at our installations are subject to the same catastrophic risk as any other police offcer in any city across the United States. In his article, Regimental Chief Warrant Offcer Albaugh references a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) study which shows that the action/reaction lag times among suspects and law enforcement offcers render the frst few seconds of a gunfght critical to survival. I argue that the frst few seconds of a gunfght are all that there are. One of my former frearms instructors at the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, Nashville, Tennessee, presented the results of a police study which indicated that most police gunfghts occur within 3 to 6 feet of the suspect, last for 3 to 5 seconds, and result in the fring of four or fve rounds. And due to action/reaction lag times, most offcers do not fre before the third round. The individual who delivers the frst accurate round will be the one who survives the 3- to 5-second gunfght. Regimental Chief Warrant Offcer Albaugh is right—military police weapons training must change. To survive the typical law enforcement gunfght, the offcer must not only have a ready weapon, but also a draw stroke that allows him or her to present the weapon and deliver accurate rounds. Furthermore, 6 to use time and distance as advantages, the offcer must employ tactics that keep him or her inside the suspect's decision cycle. Some ingrained training and ammunition management mind-sets must also change. In the world of civilian law enforcement, it is a bad thing when your weapon goes "red." It means that something has happened to keep your weapon from functioning properly and that you must take immediate action—such as clearing a malfunction or reloading the weapon—to return it to "green" status and get back in the fght. Finally, ammunition allocations must also be changed from once-a-year, qualifcation-focused events where Soldiers follow a preset course with preloaded magazines to multiple, live-fre training events that are conducted outside the realm of qualifcation courses and include timed, from-the-holster drills performed from multiple positions and distances. This would force Soldiers to manage their own ammunition and the condition of their weapons. Lieutenant Colonel Santana is the Provost Marshal, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas. From January 1993 to July 2005, he served as a civilian police offcer with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, where he held the positions of feld training offcer, detective, and special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team police marksman. He holds a bachelor's degree in political science and economics from the University of Connecticut; a master's degree in public service from Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee; and a master of military arts and science degree from the U.S. Army School of Advanced Military Studies, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. MILITARY POLICE . 19-13-1