FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — Soldiers from the 787th Military Police Battalion spent a day with FBI agents March 6 at the Springfield, Missouri, resident agency office.
“We have a shared mission with our military counterparts — to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution. These relationships are so important for the FBI in order to hire qualified and diverse candidates,” said Special Agent Trisha Dewet, FBI recruiter.
Dewet said discussions revolved around the agent position, professional staff positions, qualifications, disqualifiers, the hiring process, areas of responsibility, and transfer and travel opportunities.
A total of 13 Soldiers attended the battalion-level leader development visit to the FBI office, according to 1st Lt. Levi Baldridge, a 787th MP Bn. assistant operations officer.
“As Military Police, we are always working to improve our organization, and learning from the FBI is a great way to do that,” Baldridge said. “The FBI values military experience and the discipline and hard work that it entails.”
Soldiers who attended the event were hoping to learn about the process of transitioning from Soldier to FBI agent, according to Baldridge.
“Many Military Police officers go on to have careers in civilian law enforcement,” Baldridge said. “I personally was hoping to learn how to apply experiences in law enforcement in the military to a career in the FBI. I was also interested to learn about the opportunities that Military Police officers have to train alongside the FBI at FBI facilities.”
He said the most interesting thing he learned about was the career path for an FBI agent.
“Unlike the military, where it is common to promote every few years and move on to a different job or location, many FBI agents spend their entire career at just one or two locations. Many agents also choose to remain a special agent their entire career if they are not interested in management or overseeing a field office. This allows many agents the opportunity to become experts at investigations and build relationships with their local and state police departments,” Baldridge said.
According to Baldridge, the trip was very informative and, “answered many questions about a career in the FBI.”
Baldridge said the battalion holds Army Leader Development Program sessions monthly.
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