A Year In The Life Of A USAR MP Company.

303d Military Company (CS)

This article focuses on the combat-support military police company, the core unit for the Military Police Corps. However, the highlight of this article is the 303d MP Company (CS) in Jackson, Michigan. The importance of USAR MP units is clear when reviewing the training year of FY 99 for the 303d MP Company. As with any active component (AC) unit, commitment, preparation and, above all, leadership determine the success or failure of any unit in attaining mission accomplishment. The article will give you an indicator of the capability and proficiency of our USAR MP soldiers.

Jackson is a picturesque city of 35,000 in south central Michigan. An hour and a half west of Detroit and an hour south of the state capital, Lansing, Jackson is bona fide middle America. The primary employer, a state penitentiary, provides an economic boost to the local populace. However, the 303rd MP Company, the only USAR MP unit in Michigan, provides an added and beneficial patriotic boost to its citizens. A majority of the soldiers in the 303d live within 50 miles of the unit, but a few live within the city limits of Jackson. For all these soldiers, FY 99 proved to be a trying, stressful, and sometimes emotional year.

1st Qtr, FY 99

On 30 September 98, CPT Eric C. Engelmeier was the 783d MP Battalion S1. Content in this position, his plan was to complete CAS3 in FY 99 and prepare himself for the FY 00 Major board. Having already commanded the HHC of the 300th MP Command, he could concentrate his efforts on improving his S1 section. However, on 1 October 98, CPT Engelmeier was assigned as the Company Commander for the unsteady 303d MP Company. The unit was in a dire situation; a leadership change had become absolutely necessary. The battalion commander at that time made the change and CPT Engelmeier's plans were immediately placed on hold. His first order of business was to review his yearly training calendar (YTC). The major training event for any USAR unit is annual training (AT), which usually occurs in the summer months after a culmination of individual drill training (IDT) assemblies.

In September 98, the 303d AT mission was to attend Eastern Castle (June-August 99), a customs mission in the Sinai, as a full company deploying over ten rotations of two weeks each. However, this mission was scrubbed in the eleventh hour because of funding problems. Early in the first quarter, the 303d was then given the AT mission of providing convoy security for a rotating brigade at the NTC. Not exactly combat-support material, but at least every platoon would get a chance to practice mobilization, deployment, completing a mission, and redeployment. CPT Engelmeier's efforts now focused on planning and executing this critical mission. Rearrangement of his YTC and training schedules took priority, but ensuring that his soldiers notified their civilian employers was just as important. Now that he had a solid AT mission, CPT Engelmeier was ready to move forward.

While working the training issues of the unit, CPT Engelmeier and his First Sergeant, Kenneth Beasley, had to concentrate just as much effort on meeting the minimum readiness standards set by the United Stated Army Reserve Command (USARC), our Regional Support Command (88th RSC) in Minneapolis, and our Major Support Command (300th MP CMD/MSC). The 303d was wallowing in the "Big 5" statistics, which ultimately can determine the very existence of a USAR unit: assigned strength, duty military occupational specialty qualification (DMOSQ), retention, IDT attendance, and potential nonparticipants (PNP). Although the 303d was meeting some of the requirements, it was not meeting the most critical, DMOSQ. You cannot function as a combat-support Military Police company if one-third of the required 95Bs are not qualified or even assigned. The good news was that the company had several soldiers enrolled in the TASS BN 95B10 school, but they would not graduate until June 99. The goal was to enroll as many qualified personnel into the 95B10 school in the next two fiscal years in order to meet and then exceed the standards. Toward the end of the quarter, the unit participated in a battalion map exercise which involved the company commander, his platoon leaders and platoon sergeants, and his operations sergeant. The beginning of 1999 brought promise of unit cohesiveness, mission focus, and some esprit de corps. However, a well-placed Mark-19 round hit the unit in January 1999.

2nd Qtr, FY 99

For the USAR, the unit status report (USR) is a quarterly exercise in stress management. A report card of your unit for three months, the USR provides the MSC, RSC, and USARC commanders a snapshot of unit readiness with a specific focus of positive or negative trends in the Big 5. Consequently, the USR can bring about a significant emotional and/or mental event to a company commander. CPT Engelmeier was about to be blindsided. The 303rd submitted a USR which indicated a functioning unit but did not accurately forecast current and future personnel losses. Once recomputed, the 303rd was still broken by the Big 5 standards and questions began to surface, specifically from the 300th MP CMD Commander, BG Dennis Laich. CPT Engelmeier, his first sergeant, and the battalion commander and CSM had to answer a myriad of questions: What is your plan to fix your unit? When, specifically, will you meet the RSC standards? How will you achieve this? Who will be responsible for initiating and monitoring your readiness status? Where will you be in three, six, nine months from now? Why did we not foresee this problem? By the end of the meeting, a fix plan with a specified date to "get well" was required for submittal to the commanding general. It was 15 January 1999, and the year was not off to a good start. However, they still had to get through the remainder of the month.

January and February of a calendar year is the time for another potentially significant personal experience, the yearly training brief (YTB). Units, down to company level, prebrief their battalion commanders, brief the MSC commander and, for this particular year, brief the RSC Commander (MG John O'Connell). YTBs require extensive preparation, coordination, and a degree of luck. Briefing the next FY training plan eight months from the beginning of the new FY essentially means creating a vision 18 to 24 months out, not exactly easy when the current FY training seems to change every two months.

After the YTB, the 303d received word that their AT mission was changing to support a real-world mission in Guatemala. Stunned disbelief was an understatement. Not only had the company commander attended several IPRs, but the conexes were packed with equipment, employers were notified, orders were requested, and the troops were ready for the desert. Hurricane Mitch virtually destroyed parts of Central America, especially Guatemala, and was the primary reason for the third AT change. The 303d would now be deploying two platoons to Guatemala (Operation New Horizons II) to defend U.S. personnel, facilities, and equipment from criminal and terrorist attacks in order to support humanitarian and disaster-relief operations. The other two platoons would join the 783d MP Battalion Headquarters for a split AT at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, and Fort Dix, New Jersey.

Which two platoons would go to Guatemala? How many soldiers were actually deployable? What was the plan for deployment? About a hundred other questions needed to be answered. Meanwhile, CPT Engelmeier and 1SG Beasley were still trying to find the answers for BG Laich. It was now 20 January 1999. February and March were dedicated to AT coordination such as shot scheduling (plenty for Guatemala), country briefs, IPRs, notification to employers, and high hopes that this would be the final change.

3rd Qtr, FY 99

The month of May brought an increasingly optimistic outlook that the third AT mission change would not move to a fourth. The 303d conducted a combined FTX with the 783d MP Battalion Headquarters at Battle Creek, Michigan (Fort Custer), to qualify personnel and prepare the two deploying platoons. All deploying personnel qualified, and the company performed a law-and-order exercise that used a scenario that might be encountered in-country. Additionally, the battalion headquarters conducted a mini preparation of movement (POM) that ensured all deploying personnel had the proper administrative forms and requirements completed for the overseas movement. This POM gave the unit at least six weeks to adjust to any other changes. During the remainder of the quarter, the 303d concentrated its training on the key tasks to be performed in Guatemala; the physical security of all personnel, the base camp, all remote work sites, and convoy operations. Furthermore, it had to be prepared to provide a quick reaction force to defend the base camp from attack.

4th Qtr, FY 99

The mission in Guatemala was to deploy in two separate two-week deployments during late July and early August. The 303d had the last two deployments in this five-month exercise and have to close the entire operation with the last rotation. Both platoons flew from Detroit to Philadelphia, conducted a POM at Fort Dix for one day, and then flew nonstop to Guatemala City. A six-hour bus ride to Puerto Barrios awaited the platoons, complete with a maniacal, non-English speaking bus driver who maneuvered his coach over roads unfit for a car. CPT Engelmeier wondered out loud if they had come all this way to suddenly vanish over one of the mountains. Upon arrival at the base camp, each platoon set up operations and began their law-and-order mission. Each soldier brought back his/her share of stories, some tall, some funny, some downright frightening, but most of them unforgettable. The second rotation was changed less than a week before departure.

An earthquake of at least 6.0 hit Guatemala in early July and damaged most of the barracks that housed U.S. soldiers. With unsafe barracks, the decision was made to curtail the second rotation and use some different quarters. Although unhappy with the shortened mission, the second rotation was still going to Guatemala. The other two platoons participated with the 783d MP Battalion and the 300th MP Command in Silver Sword 99, a biennial EPW exercise, at Fort McCoy and Fort Dix. Although these two platoons missed the Guatemala deployment, their mission at these two sites was just as crucial for the 300th MP Command. Providing EPW role players and OPFOR personnel for numerous scenarios, the 303d completed an amazing AT for FY 99.

August saw the safe return of all personnel from three locations and a year-end promotional event. The 303rd held a combined open house/ family day in late August, inviting local newspapers, radio stations, television crews, and family members. Displaced on the front lawn of its Reserve Center was a mock TOC, camouflage station, vehicle displays, local recruiters, and free hot dogs and sodas. The event brought out hundreds of Jackson residents to see just what the MP do in our Army and meet some of their own citizens serving their country. The 303d even drew forty leads for local recruiters.

September marked the end of the FY and brought both positive and negative news. The unit finally met the USR and RSC standards in DMOSQ and the Big 5. Nine months of worry and a heavy load was lifted. However, the unit motor sergeant, having served in the unit for two years and in the reserves for thirty, died of lung cancer after surgery to remove a lung.

Leadership and commitment enabled the 303d to survive and even flourish in FY 99. Although CPT Engelmeier provided the guidance, 1SG Beasley and his group of resourceful, efficient, and professional NCOs executed every mission given to them. They survived three changes in AT missions, multiple AT sites, a razing by the CG to meet standards, and the death of a long serving NCO. If this FY doesn't sound trying to you, remember that these soldiers have full-time jobs and a multitude of other full-time commitments.

A popular term for USAR soldiers is a part-timer. These soldiers could not have had this successful a year by committing to just one weekend a month. The unit leadership routinely loses two weekends a month and at least two weekdays a month for administrative/training meetings. The USAR must meet the same standards as the AC, but it takes more than the minimum attendance requirements to meet that goal. Wouldn't you want a combat ready, motivated, and competent unit assigned or attached to your AC unit during wartime?

Jackson, Michigan has a hidden jewel, a USAR MP unit committed to excellence and positively representing the MP and NCO Corps. The combat-support MP company is one of the most requested units in the Army inventory. Able to support the combat capability and ever-changing mission parameters of field commanders, its versatility enables it to perform autonomously or as a force multiplier. High OPTEMPO, mission overload, and constant deployments are a way of life in the AC. Day in and day out, the AC is providing the needed support to field commanders all over the world. However, I invite you to do the following: take a look at a road atlas, find Michigan, pinpoint Jackson, and then stop to ponder for a moment. You can then place in perspective the impact, significance, and relevance of the USAR MP. Jackson is not the only small town that is host to our reserve MP units; it just happens to be a subject of this article and the home of the 303d Military Police Company.

`ONE TEAM, ONE FIGHT, ONE ARMY' `OF THE TROOPS, FOR THE TROOPS'

Major Clifford F. Buttram, Jr. was the Battalion S3 for the 783d Military Police Battalion (EPW/CI)located in Inkster, Michigan, at the time this article was written.