CID celebrates 39th anniversary

FORT STEWART The U.S. Army's Criminal Investigative Division celebrated its 39th anniversary, Sept. 17. To commemorate the occasion, Fort Stewart's 30th Military Police Detachment (CID) held an open house at their headquarters with a special invitation to current and former CID agents and their Families.

"One of the best memories I have - aside from the day I got married and the birth of my daughters - is the day I raised my right hand and took the Special Agent Oath," said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Billy Higgason, detachment commander and Special Agent in charge of 30th MP Detachment (CID), following opening remarks and a brief history of CID at the anniversary ceremony.

Chief Warrant Officer Higgason then invited all current and former CID agents attending the open house and anniversary ceremony to stand and re-take the oath. More than a dozen plain-clothes officers past and present who were sitting stood up, raised their right hand and together repeated the Special Agent Oath:

"I, (agent's name), do hereby swear (or affirm) that I shall support and uphold the Constitution and the Laws of the United States; that I shall endeavor to discharge my responsibilities as a United States Army CID Special Agent in accordance therewith; that I shall at all times seek diligently to discover the truth, deterred neither by fear nor prejudice; and I shall strive to be worthy of the special trust reposed in me by my country, the United States Army, and the Criminal Investigation Command."

The open house included a guided tour of the CID facility conducted by special agents. During his tour, Special Agent Jesse Zander explained what each of the offices and storage areas were used for, including evidence, interrogation and equipment rooms. While pointing to a corner of one room filled with specialize equipment used for hostage situations, Special Agent Zander noted that it was CID agents from their office that responded to and worked with Winn Army Community Hospital personnel to defuse the recent hostage situation there.

After leading everyone in re-taking their oath, Chief Warrant Officer Higgason and Ellie Tolbert, a retired CID special agent now serving as investigative operations assistant, cut a birthday cake, which included the three CID badges and alluded to the Special Agent Oath, "Diligently Seeking the Truth."

Unofficially, the Army CID can trace its origins to 1918 when Gen. John Pershing directed the Provost Marshal General of the American Expeditionary Forces to organize a criminal investigative division. However, during the years following World War I through the World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam War, CID existed off and on under the command of the Provost Marshal, rather than as an independent Army command. Also, agents were not formally trained to investigate felonies.

On Sept. 17, 1971, Criminal Investigation Division was established as a major Army command, headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Va., with a mission to investigate felonies committed on and off military reservations, often working with local, state and other federal investigative agencies.