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/484012
A
s the Army continues to downsize, senior leaders are demanding that offcers, war-
rant offcers, and noncommissioned offcers (NCOs) assume additional leadership
roles within their respective organizations. In many units, warrant offcers have not
been required to hold leadership roles. But that is changing. Our senior leaders have real-
ized that we can no longer afford to have warrant offcers serve only as technical experts
within their organizations. The new expectation is that warrant offcers will step up, raise
their game, assume leadership roles, and develop leaders within their organizations. Based
on stations and assignments, military police warrant offcers are far ahead of other warrant
offcer branches with regard to leader development.
Army offcer Career Management Field 31 (Military Police) is well positioned with
reference to leader development. U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command (commonly
known as CID) special agent warrant offcers (311As) are already assuming increased re-
sponsibility, holding leadership positions, and developing leaders. They are assigned as
detachment commanders and special agents in charge at about 60 locations worldwide.
Most interestingly, they are assigned as senior warrant offcer advisors to commanders at
battalion, brigade, and CID command levels. Their duties and responsibilities are similar to those of command sergeants major—
they advise the commander on warrant offcer issues, warrant offcer leader development, and the technical training of warrant
offcers and NCOs. They are consid-
ered members of the command team.
In addition, there is an upward trend
in amending organizational manning
documents to refect warrant offcers
in the command cell as command
chief warrant offcers. Command chief warrant offcers have been integrated at the CID, the 200th Military Police Command,
the U.S. Army Reserve Command, the Army National Guard Command, aviation units, U.S. Army Special Forces, and the U.S.
Army Combined Arms Center. These organizations feature a command triad consisting of the commander, the command ser-
geant major, and the command chief warrant offcer. Finally, the Chief of Staff of the Army recently appointed Chief Warrant
Offcer Five David Williams as the senior warrant offcer on the Army staff. His duties include advising the Army Chief of Staff
on warrant offcer leader development, training, and other issues that impact warrant offcers.
Based on custom and tradition, we automatically think of the commander and the senior NCO as the components of a com-
mand team—at all levels of command and in all types of units. This confguration has existed for hundreds of years, and it will
continue into the foreseeable future. But we also need to be mindful of the changing landscape of the Army. We must consider
that more units are integrating a third member of the command team—the command chief warrant offcer—into their formations.
MILITARY POLICE
.
19-15-1
4
Chief Warrant Offcer Five Leroy Shamburger
Regimental Chief Warrant Officer
"Our senior leaders have realized that we can no longer afford to
have warrant offcers serve only as technical experts within their
organizations. The new expectation is that warrant offcers will step
up, raise their game, assume leadership roles, and develop leaders
within their organizations."
Endnotes:
1
Mark S. Spindler, "Priority One: Leader Development—First and Foremost," Military Police, Spring 2014, p. 2,