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
37 Spring 2016 By Captain Roger J. Foley and Second Lieutenant Erin K. Flickinger T he 94th Military Police Battalion (Polar Bears), head- quartered in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, is the larg- est forward-deployed military police battalion in the U.S. Army today. The 94th has six subordinate units that stretch nearly the length of the South Korean Peninsula, from Dongducheon to Daegu. The Polar Bears provide more than 330 military police Soldiers (trained military police in- vestigators, traffc accident investigators, physical security specialists, dog handlers) daily to conduct law enforcement by establishing and maintaining discipline throughout the Korean peninsula. The battalion also uniquely trains and executes its mission alongside our Korean allies through the Korean Augmentation to the United States Army (KATUSA) program, which provides an average of 80 additional Sol- diers to each subordinate military police company, enhanc- ing functionality and combat power within the formation. While law enforcement support remains our No. 1 priority, the battalion has placed signifcant emphasis on the ability to "fght tonight" should armistice with North Korea fail. The Motto: When in Need When in Need is more than the motto of the 94th Mili- tary Police Battalion. Under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Carlson and Command Sergeant Major Lee K. Sodic, the battalion revitalized its tactical training plan to better posture the more than 1,200 Soldiers and 180 com- bat platforms of the battalion to alert, marshal, and deploy at a moment's notice to support 8th Army wartime efforts. Polar Bear Tactical Training (PBTT) is a 6-week green cy- cle training program that is planned and executed at the platoon level and rotated amongst each platoon within the four combat support military police companies of the bat- talion. Each PBTT cycle is designed to continually improve squad and platoon tactical capabilities and to fully train on mission-essential tasks in support of the wartime mission. The challenge is, without fail, to simultaneously maintain the large law enforcement support requirements in four separate U.S. Army garrisons, which includes manning all provost marshal offces with personnel who have additional skill identifers and with desk crews in Areas I, II, III, and IV throughout the Republic of Korea. With this and the fre- quent Soldier turnover rate (due to 1-year tours), limited availability of crew-served weapon ranges, and geographical dispersion of subordinate units, the PBTT concept was the best solution to improve mission readiness. For every 6-week PBTT green cycle, one platoon from each company is responsible for planning and executing a collective training event using the Eight-Step Training Mod- el. The PBTT 6-week green cycle training program consists of fve phases: • Phase 1: 2 weeks of shoot, move, communicate, and sur- vive (medical) training. • Phase 2: 1 week of battalion consolidated gunnery train- ing. • Phase 3: 1 week of feld training exercise or live-fre ex- ercise. • Phase 4: 1 week of recovery operations. • Phase 5: 1 week of law enforcement refresher training. Phase 1 Two weeks of shoot, move, communicate, and sur- vive (medical) training is completed at home station. The training consists of Army warrior tasks and battle drills, gunner validation, communications training, and other mission-essential tasks determined by the company to best prepare for the training events that will take place in Phase 3. During Phase 1, platoons conduct a 2- to 3-day A 94th Military Police Battalion squad leader directs a gunner to engage a target during gunnery training.