MP Battalions Recommended for Superior Unit Award.
Honestly, who read the headliner to this article and thought to themselves, "Aren't those training units?!? The Superior Unit Award for a training unit?!?" Truth be told, you would not be alone in your curiosity and reservations, but only because you did not know the circumstances. Whether or not these units receive the award is relatively insignificant. What is important is that they are recognized, if only in the writing of this article. CSM James Barrett, former CSM for the 795th MP Battalion, may have said it best to one of the last graduating trainee classes, "Heroes aren't just the guys deploying to Kosovo or Bosnia, or any one of the other numerous deployments we find our military police men and women today. Heroes are also those individuals who do normal things under extraordinary circumstances, everyday, to get the mission done."With the deactivation, relocation of unit and family, and the activation of two new brigades added to the mission-essential task list (METL), units of the U.S. Army Training Brigade endured such circumstances and more than earned their title as one of the Army's "Superior Units."
The Plan
As part of the base realignment and closure (BRAC) process, the Training Brigade deactivated along with Fort McClellan. Composed of three MP battalions, a Chemical (CM) battalion, an Adjutant General (AG) battalion, and a Headquarters & Headquarters Company (HHC), the Training Brigade had a relatively diverse mission. The AG battalion and the HHC had to deactivate while the MP and CM battalions relocated to Fort Leonard Wood to reestablish separate MP and CM brigades. Sounded simple enough, but with a training cycle that could not stop, time became the critical factor. How does the Army move a unit and continue to train the soldiers that have not only been contracted for specific class dates but are critically necessary in the field? Do both tasks at the same time!
Accordingly, the brigade and battalion staffs went to work creating the products that every deployable unit needs: shipping lists, a time-phased force-deployment list (TPFDL), operations orders, and every kind of briefing from coordination with installation staffs to family support groups. Though these units did not carry the organizational equipment of their MTOE brethren, the task was every bit the challenge. Instead of vehicles, radios, and platoon equipment, companies had to inventory, tag, and turn in thousands of pieces of barracks furniture. M16s weren't loaded onto pallets; they had to be inventoried, inspected, and turned in, and new weapons had to be coordinated for at Fort Leonard Wood.
Each battalion was given ten military vans, which were loaded with tents, immersion heaters, stoves, camo systems, and the hundreds of other items organic to the unit. The equipment was inventoried and coordinated for pick up and drop off like any other deployment. Finally, instead of individual equipment, soldiers were packing up their homes. D-Day commenced on the day the soldiers graduated, which was different for each company and allowed for little or no time off. Each company was given roughly 5 days to relocate their two military vans and the ten to fifteen truckloads of household goods to Fort Leonard Wood. Upon arrival, they had 4 to 5 weeks to prepare for the first class of trainees.
To illustrate the point, in the last week of July, there were three companies training at Fort McClellan, four companies in the process of moving, and four companies training at Fort Leonard Wood.
The People
Simultaneously deactivating a battalion and brigade HHC, deploying three battalions, and then reactivating two separate brigades at another installation under restricted time conditions are certainly unprecedented in Army history. The task would be monumental even under normal conditions, but the conditions were not normal. The challenge really began 9 months earlier in October 1998, with the complete elimination of personnel gains to the brigade. Although relatively few soldiers departed, the organizational structure of the brigade made any loss a significant loss.
Many drill sergeants volunteered for a third year or otherwise extended their tour of duty to ensure that there would be at least the minimum amount of cadre necessary to support the training mission. Unlike a deployment to one of our more popular overseas destinations, these units were saddled with the additional task of preparing their families for a PCS move while at the same time maintaining focus on a rigorously paced training mission.
In a job that already demanded 100 percent, these leaders demonstrated exceptional self-sacrifice, devotion to duty, and a critical sense of urgency, ensuring that their unit and their families' new households were established in less than 30 days, and sometimes as few as 3 weeks, to begin the unit's training mission at their new location. For what drill sergeants endure, signing on for any time over the 2-year requirement is nothing short of heroic.
Likewise, the battalion and brigade support staff, already cut to the bone because of their status as TRADOC units, could not afford the loss of even one soldier, let alone the loss of the continuity that resulted. By May 1999, brigade and battalion staffs were well below authorized strength for normal operations, let alone a deployment and the necessary split of personnel to support both Fort McClellan and Fort Leonard Wood units.
Besides preparing for deployment and supporting units in training, supply personnel--
* Had to learn and implement Fort McClellan's new automated property management system.
* Had to ensure proper coordination with the Fort McClellan Closure Task Force, the Joint Powers Authority-Anniston, Alabama National Guard, Fort Benning, Fort Eustis, and the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office (DRMO) in Anniston for the final disposition of well over 50,000 pieces of furniture, weapons, and equipment brigade-wide.
* Spent countless man-hours preparing the necessary paperwork; physically turning in or laterally transferring thousands of pieces of office furniture, equipment, and weapons; and properly preparing or coordinating over 190 buildings and range facilities for turn-in or transfer.
The Accomplishments
Logistically and operationally, the brigade improved its efficiency and performance during the planning and execution stages of the transition and closure process. It maintained a strict focus on the required tasks of not only deploying companies and closing down the remaining infrastructure, but of successfully implementing TRADOC's new training guidelines (regulation 350-6, the new DOD safe and secure policies) and TRADOC's new EO/POSH training package and rewriting and improving the Chemical and Military Police course flows. Evidence of superior performance was reflected in the laudatory remarks of several congressional review committees, as well as the TRADOC IET Unit Assistance Task Force, who identified our MP battalions as the best in TRADOC.
Markers of increased efficiency during this transition process were evident in two significant and revolutionary initiatives carried out in this timeframe. First, the command implemented the new "beamhit" rifle marksmanship system designed to replace the weaponeer. Second, with an emphasis on reducing attrition, the command instituted a profile-focused physical-fitness assessment that grouped together profile-prone soldiers. The units were then resourced with new exercise' equipment to assist in physical conditioning, the results of which were immediately noticeable in reducing injuries.
The soldiers and leaders of the Training Brigade successfully trained and supported over 3,000 IET soldiers in addition to physically preparing and deploying their units and their families to Fort Leonard Wood. Making the relocation happen as well as it did is a tribute to the soldiers. Despite a drastic increase in OPTEMPO, as well as a corresponding decrease in personnel strength, the command groups of these battalions never lost focus of the importance of safe and quality training, never lowered the standards of the training mission, and always kept the needs of soldiers first. Not only was this unprecedented mission carried out successfully, but it also set the standard for the Army.
"Send Me!"
"Excellence Always"
"Assist by Example"
Captain Mark M. Weber was the Training Brigade S4 (Fort McClellan, Alabama) at the time this article was written.
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| Title Annotation: | military police |
|---|---|
| Author: | Weber, Mark M. |
| Publication: | Military Police |
| Geographic Code: | 1USA |
| Date: | May 1, 2000 |
| Words: | 1319 |
| Previous Article: | BRIGHT STAR 2000. |
| Next Article: | Chief, Military Police Corps Regiment, and Commandant, United States Army Military Police School. |
| Topics: | |