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.

Issue link: https://militarypolice.epubxp.com/i/655275

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 58 of 75

57 Spring 2016 By First Lieutenant Hannah M. Miller T he buzzword interoperability was thrown around so often in the 2d Squadron, 2d Cavalry Regiment tactical operations center at Mihail Ko- galniceanu Air Base, Romania, that the squadron commander admitted that the word threatened to become meaningless through careless repetition. But for the platoon size element that the 709th Mili- tary Police Battalion deployed to Roma- nia to support the regiment's Operation Cavalry March, interoperability in ac- tion proved to be anything but meaning- less. Romanian and U.S. military police forces provided reconnaissance, convoy security, and route screening for the 100-vehicle tactical road march along the 400 kilometers from the air base to Cincu Training Center. Along the way, they executed a concept of protection that integrated Romanian federal police and the local police in three cities where the squadron conducted ceremonies and large-scale engagements with civilians. The newly revised Army Regulation 34-1, Multinational Force Interoperability, 1 derives its defnition of multination- al force interoperability (MFI) from North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Allied Administration Publication-06, NATO Glossary of and Defnitions (English and French). 2 MFI is defned as "the ability of the forces of two or more nations to train, exercise, and operate effectively to- gether in the execution of assigned missions and tasks . . . " and "the ability to act together coherently, effectively and ef- fciently to achieve allied tactical, operational, and strategic objectives." 3 These defnitions suggest that parties seeking MFI undergo the following progression: • Coherence (communication and understanding). • Effectiveness (mission accomplishment). • Effciency (improvement). Operation Cavalry March was simultaneously challeng- ing and appealing because it put military police teams in positions with international, civil-military, and unit overlap, where team members could best observe this progression. Romanian jurisdiction mandated that three patrols (one lead, one trail, and one response-ready) provide the primary escort, traffc control, and force protection for each of the four serials, or groups, of convoy vehicles. Layered within the Romanian protection, the U.S. military police teams commanded the leading and trailing Humvees to bolster security during movement. These teams acted as a conduit between the squadron serial commanders and their Roma- nian escorts. To overcome incompatible communication plat- forms, truck commanders of the lead Humvees in each serial lent a handheld radio to the Romanian offcer in charge and kept its mate to relay relevant information. However, the Humvee commanders usually found that face-to-face con- versation with their Romanian counterparts during stops was the most effcient method of coordination. For example, one junior noncommissioned offcer (NCO) from the 615th Military Police Company explained to his A Romanian platoon leader based in Bucharest patrols with a platoon leader with the 615th Military Police Company. They were partnered for the entirety of Operation Cavalry March.

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Military Police - SPRING 2016