FORT DRUM, N.Y. (June 16, 2016) -- A group of military police officers from Fort Drum recently had an opportunity to expand their capabilities while participating in a four-month-long assignment working in an area outside their military occupational specialty.
Thirty-six MPs from 3rd Platoon, 511th Military Police Company, 16th Military Police Battalion, deployed to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., from January through May to support operations in two correctional facilities due to deployment of Soldiers from the facilities.
"There was a critical shortage, and FORSCOM (U.S. Army Forces Command) put out the request for additional units to supplement their manpower," said 1st Lt. Michael Embs, platoon leader. "The request eventually came down to the 16th Military Police Brigade, who assigned two rotations of basically company-sized elements."
Embs said the mission required flexibility on the part of his Soldiers, as the work was very different from the typical roles of their own MOS of 31B -- to enforce laws and regulations, control traffic, prevent crime and respond to emergencies.
"We're the security and mobility side of the military police, as well as the law enforcement side," he said. "We work in cycles patrolling the roads and going out into the field to practice everything from convoy security to dismounted patrolling."
"When we went to Fort Leavenworth, we were working on the corrections and detention side of the house, with the (31E) Soldiers," he said. "Their specialty is the interment and resettlement side of being military policemen."
Soldiers were split into three squads: two working within the Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility, where Soldiers with sentences of 10 years or less were interred, and one within the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, where inmates with longer sentences were housed.
Platoon member Sgt. Kenneth Edwards said that it took some time to adjust to their new role.
"As a 'Bravo,' once you get into a vehicle and start your shift; no day is the same," he said. "A lot of what we do is based on experience," Edwards said. "We have to use our own judgment and discretion to determine how to handle a situation."
Within the correctional facilities, standard operating procedures are very specific, and routine is an important part of daily operations, Embs said.
"It's very black and white," he said. "If an inmate does something, the SOP tells you what the consequence of that action will be."
Pfc. Krystin Roberts, who worked within the Disciplinary Barracks, said that although the inmates knew the regulations regarding their actions, they often tested the limits and even tried to provoke those Soldiers responsible for their custody, care and control.
"You have to uphold the standards they are expected to live with, and a lot of times they don't like that," she said.
"It was important to be respectful and courteous no matter how they spoke to you. We had to do what we were trained to do without letting their actions affect how we responded," Roberts added.
Sgt. Timothy Lawrence gained experience in the area of detainee operations during a deployment to Iraq.
"When I deployed, we got to Kuwait for training and found out we weren't going to be doing what we thought we were," he said. "We were going to be doing detainee operations. I got a lot of experience in how to talk to detainees, how to conduct myself -- those things carried over into the job we did in corrections."
Staff Sgt. Charles Sinitiere said that he thinks the work that platoon members did within the correctional facilities will be a benefit to Soldiers who have not yet had this experience.
"When we deploy, we will do detainee operations," he said. "This was an opportunity for Soldiers to get that experience that they will be able to use further along in their career and (they) will also be able to use to train other Soldiers."
Embs pointed out that while the 511th MP Company conducts training on detainee control operations, 3rd Platoon is the only unit on Fort Drum that has had extensive experience in this area.
"We have four months of knowledge and experience in how to do the custody control piece of detainee operations," he said. "We are readily prepared to conduct these operations, and this will definitely benefit us in the future."
Sinitiere said that he was proud of the way the Soldiers completed their mission.
"We wanted to make sure that we represented not just the 16th Military Police Brigade, the 511th MP Company and Fort Drum well, but the MP Corps as a whole," Sinitiere said. "We didn't just go to do the mission. We went down there to exceed the standard and learn everything we could. That's what we always strive to do, and I think we definitely accomplished that."
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