SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii -- In the early hours of Oct. 17 a team of Soldiers from 57th Military Police Company, 728th Military Police Battalion, 8th Military Police Brigade boarded a ferryboat for transport to the historic decommissioned guided missile frigate USS Crommelin.
As the ferryboat navigated through Pearl Harbor's eerily silent ghost fleet of once vibrant and populated vessels standing out and in the path was the destination, the majestic USS Crommelin. Soldiers, one by one, climbed from the ferryboat up a ladder and perhaps back into history when placing their boots on the deck where so many Sailors had once proudly stood while serving as crew to the guided missile frigate's over 30 years of distinguished service.
Did the Soldiers come all this way for a tour and a history lesson? Not at all, and the team found out quickly that the USS Crommelin was in no mood to provide one, intense high speed training commenced immediately testing the Soldiers who quickly and precisely moved in elements throughout her halls, compartments, and decks while conducting close quarters combat drills as part of port security training with the U.S. Coast Guard's Maritime Safety and Security Team -- Honolulu during the week of Oct. 15 -- 18.
"The 57th Military Police Company reached out to us because this is kind of our bread and butter when it comes to these types of boarding. Our MSST in particular has advanced tactics when it comes to the CQB [close quarters battle] environment; we also do anti piracy type boarding," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Larry Provost, Maritime Safety and Security Team -- Honolulu. "We [MSST] love doing this kind of training, reaching out and training with other branches; this is what were out here to do, our jobs and joint --training. It strengthens our partnerships; the Army is an asset out here that we can utilize."
Spc. Alisha Brown, port security team leader, 57th MP Co., explained it's not just the Army that is an asset but the Coast Guard as well when speaking about the week-long joint training.
"We [57th MP Co.] we're unable to do this type of training back on Schofield so we're very lucky to get the Coast Guard to come out here and teach us things that we haven't been able to do like training within the ships, and room clearing in such close quarters. The small rooms and the small hallways, things like that we were unable to replicate in our area operations, but we're now able to do them with the Coast Guard," said Brown. "We're extremely lucky to get this type of training, everyone doesn't get this type of training before a deployment like ours, we're very privileged to come out here and get helpful critiques before our deployment."
The intent behind the Coast Guard and 57th MP Co.'s joint training was to provide additional education, tactics, techniques and procedures on port security and response to assist the team of 57th MP Co. Soldiers in preparation for an upcoming port security deployment.
"I am blown away with how skilled the United States Coast Guard are with CQB [close quarters battle], I had no idea the Coast Guard had these types of groups trained to this degree of skill level set to do these types of jobs," said Spc. Nicholas Farina, port security team leader, 57th MP Co. "I feel privileged to be able to do this type of training, to come out here and train with the Coast Guard. I know this is something that not a lot of Soldiers, especially the Military Police, get to do. Our instructors, the Coast Guard, were very knowledgeable and there were no questions that they couldn't answer."
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