Military Police

SPRING 2016

Military Police contains information about military police functions in maneuver and mobility support, area security, law and order, internment/resettlement, and police intelligence operations.

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MILITARY POLICE 10 Military police companies supported BCTs for CTC ro- tations to gain operational experience and demonstrate military police capabilities in decisive-action environments. Training management cycles were synchronized between military police companies and their BCT counterparts to support their home station training needs and Army force generation requirements. According to Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Short, Com- mander, 91st Engineer Battalion, 1st Armor BCT, 1st Cavalry Division, "Having a military police company [64th Military Police Company, 720th Military Police Battalion, 89th Military Police Brigade] provides the BCT the capabili- ties needed to perform a full mission set. With no organic military police, the BCT would struggle to execute detainee operations, noncombatant evacuation operations, and weap- ons of mass destruction elimination operations." Combat Readiness Focusing on habitual relationships enhanced the com- bat readiness level of military police companies within the III Corps footprint. Units within the brigade took a back-to-basics approach and focused on shoot, move, commu- nicate, and protect fundamentals. Military police companies fostered a high state of readiness coupled with an expedi- tionary mindset through aggressive emergency deployment readiness exercise programs, organizational inspection pro- grams, and external evaluations. The 89th, in coordination with U.S. Army Forces Com- mand, plans to send military police companies in a DS role to each III Corps BCT for operational deployments. 3 This will provide military police units the opportunity to conduct traditional military police disciplines (security and mobility support operations, detention operations, police operations) outside the continental United States. Establishing habitual relations within III Corps has helped forge the future by defning the military police role in support of maneuver commanders. The 89th, in coordination with U.S. Army Central Command planners, is developing a request for the forces process to trigger the deployment of a military police company in support of its habitual aligned BCT. 4 Military police and other enabler augmentations are needed if the BCT is to provide full warfghting function capability while conducting operations. The habitual rela- tionship concept will increase the demand for military po- lice conducting protection warfghting function tasks during a steady state and shaping operations in support of BCTs. Military police companies supporting BCTs will potentially partner with host nation police forces to support security co- operation activities, build capabilities, and help profession- alize their forces. The III Corps deputy commanding general, Major Gen- eral John Uberti, received a semiannual training briefng from the 89th Military Police Brigade leaders. The brief- ing highlighted the concept of habitual relationships and military police support to III Corps. Major General Uberti validated the concept, and he believes that the initiative will eventually spread throughout the Army as a proven concept and best practice for military police support to maneuver commanders. "I will gladly take a military police company with me. I have missions where I can absolutely use their skill sets, but it has to be the unit we trained with at Fort Carson [Colora- do] and took to the National Training Center," said Colonel Gregory Sierra, Commander, 3d Armor BCT, 4th Infantry Division. Conclusion The 89th Military Police Brigade established habitual re- lationships with BCTs to support the current fght, protect the force through combat readiness, and help forge the fu- ture of military police forces within III Corps. Establishing habitual relationships is strategically important to the Mili- tary Police Corps to maintain relevance and force structure within a resource-constrained Army. Endnotes: 1 Operation Order PW 15-03-0280, 89th Military Police Bri- gade Habitual Relationships, 27 March 2015. 2 Ibid. 3 Field Manual 3-39, Military Police Operations, 26 August 2013. 4 Gregory L. Cantwell, et al., Regionally Aligned Forces: Concept Viability and , U.S. Army War College Press, March 2015, p. 39, , accessed on 26 January 2016. Major Howard is the battalion operations offcer for the 720th Military Police Battalion, Fort Hood Texas. He holds a bach- elor's degree in sociology Agricultural and Me- chanical University, Huntsville, in business and organizational security - ster University.

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