JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J.-- In an aim to balance mission sets and numbers of troops deploying at each First Army Mobilization Force Generation Installation, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. will soon add police mentorship and the law and order mission to its vast spectrum of maneuver, fires, and effects training.
"MPs [Military Police] have trained here before, and it's no wonder they are coming back," said Sgt. 1st Class Raymond Alston, a Reserve military police officer and noncommissioned officer-in-charge, with the 174th Infantry Brigade, Modern Army Combatives Program. "We trained security and detainment operations for years and our brigade has a good foundation of military police trainer-mentors."
In addition to being a Trainer/Mentor, Alston has been a New York Police Department officer for more than eight years. 1st Battalion, 307th Infantry Regiment, is the lead on implementing the new MP training. Training the mentorship mission is every trainer's job. Soldiers similar to Alston, within the formation and with similar specialized skill sets, will be called upon to assist with the law and order mission specific training.
"Our trainers are observing and assessing the MP training at Fort Bliss this November," said Maj. Jeff Giltzow, operations officer, 174th Infantry Brigade. "We are working alongside the current trainers during a police mentorship mission specific exercise and a law and order rotation at Bliss, to bring back the specialized skills."
Gitzow added that this would assist in tailoring their MP training packages to execute and certify training at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
Army internment and resettlement training was a primary mission set for First Army instructors at the former Mobilization Training Center Fort Dix, N.J. Since 2008, the training shifted to incorporate more sister-services mobilization training to include: Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard Deployment Expeditionary Force Training. As the 174th prepares to assume the Military Police Mentorship mission, and Law and Order DEF mission from its sister brigade at Fort Bliss, Texas, in January 2012, additional mission sets may soon follow suit.
With the addition of this mission set, and others scheduled to come later next year, JB MDL will assume an increased mobilization load.
"Over the new two years or so, JB MDL is scheduled to assume more than a dozen other mission sets from its sister First Army Mobilization Force Generation Installations," said Col. Craig A. Osborne, commander, 174th Infantry Brigade, during a brigade town hall meeting, Nov. 8.
Furthermore, with the scheduled drawdown in Afghanistan, the brigade is evolving its current Deployment Expeditionary Force focus to incorporate Contingency Expeditionary Force training. Building on war fighter and full spectrum exercises to incorporate ongoing CEF training requirements, the Patriot Brigade must meet the demands of modern military operations and enduring support missions' simultaneously.
"CEF training gears the Reserve Component to play an active role in theater cooperation missions, to include the large-scale train-up exercises that prepare Soldiers for these events," said Giltzow. "Our brigade is the executing agent, facilitating collective training events, long-term sustainability training and readiness support to the Reserve CEF at home station and here at the mob site."
Balancing the DEF and CEF mission is the task at hand for the 174th Infantry Brigade. All the while, the Patriot brigade has been designated to lead both on-site and off-site collective training events in support of the CEF mission. These missions range from leading a three-week Combat Support Training Exercise here at home, in early summer 2013, to supporting a Mission Command Training Program for an Infantry Brigade Combat Team, at Fort Drum, N.Y., in late summer 2013.
"It is an all-around, multi-faceted mission centered on training excellence," added Giltzow. "There's no one better for the job than the Patriot Brigade."
The primary mission of the 174th Infantry Brigade is executing mobilization training in accordance with theater and service-specific standards. Trainer-Mentors provide service members with different backgrounds and experience levels- the tools they need for deployment.
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