FORT McCOY, WIS. -- A North Carolina Military Police (MP) unit received law-enforcement training at Fort McCoy and prepared for future missions while also providing support to the Fort McCoy Police Department for law-and-order operations and the Aug. 14 concert.
Maj. Chuepheng Lo, the police operations officer for the Fort McCoy Police Department, said the 805th MP Company from Cary, N.C., trained at the installation from Aug. 3-23.
During the first two weeks, unit members conducted law-enforcement training. This included training on traffic control, emergency vehicle operations and crowd control. The last week was spent conducting combat support missions, such as physical security, convoy training, etc. Unit members must be proficient in conducting missions in garrison and in field settings, Lo said.
The unit has the mission of providing combat support in battlefield conditions.
Sgt. 1st Class Leshanda Harris of the 805th said that can include enemy prisoner of war missions or providing force protection to the troops.
The unit also conducted classroom training in various police skills to become trained in law enforcement as MPs.
Spc. Dendray Ballard, the riot control instructor for the 805th, said the riot control training helped prepare the unit members for a wide variety of crowd-control scenarios.
"The crowd-control training helped prepare the unit for future missions," he said.
Lo said the unit's support of the concert was key for the Police Department as the additional support from another source was not available.
"They had a chance to put all of their training here to good use," he said.
Staff Sgt. Roy Phoenix, an 805th MP, said the concert-support mission gave unit members hands-on experience for a large event. The MPs helped staff the gate used for concert traffic, helped with parking security and also supported security on the concert grounds.
"We learned how to coordinate with colleagues spread out over an extended area," Phoenix said. "We also got invaluable experience for a large event like this. If we need to set up something like this in the future, we can draw on this experience."
The gate duty also provided them with experience in conducting vehicle searches, he said.
MPs supporting the parking and concert grounds areas gained experience and proficiency in performing those duties, as well, Lo said.
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