191st Infantry Brigade

Story by Spc. Stephanie Bacon

By Spc. Stephanie Bacon
191st Infantry Brigade

FORT LEWIS, Wash. – A Navy Law and Order Detachment is deploying to perform a variety of missions in theater, one of which is protecting high ranking military personnel, dignitaries and special visitors in their area of operation. That mission requires specialized training, and to meet the requirements of this training, First Army Division West enlisted the expertise of Department of Army civilians from the United States Army Military Police School, Protective Services Training Branch, Special Tactics Training Division from Fort Lenard Wood, Missouri. It is their mission along with the 191st Infantry Brigade to train these Sailors.

Cpt. Michael D. Olson, planning officer, First Army Division West, 191st Infantry Brigade is responsible for coordinating training for Navy and Air Force units filling Army missions in theater. He said having special trainers for this phase of training to get this group mission ready is essential.

"This mobile training team is made up of experts in their field hired by the United States Army to perform this training all over the world," said Olson.

Alan Earl, Mobile Training Team Leader, has been teaching special tactics to military and civilian law enforcement personnel for seven years at the military police academy and before that, he served as a United States Marshal.

"We teach them how to do protective services driving, how to use firearms to protect high-risk personnel and how to deal with people. People skills are important because when they are out and meeting with people they need to know protocol," Earl said.

Navy Commander Norm Cruz, officer in charge, of the Law and Order Detachment said his unit is comprised of Sailors with various specialties.

"Some of my guys are border patrol, some work confinement, and others highway patrol," said Cruz. The common theme is that all members of the team have some type of law enforcement experience.

"We are what is considered an ad-hoc unit, taking reservists from different parts of the country, and putting them together to form a unit and accomplish one mission," said Cruz.

Cruz is excited about the mission, enjoying the training, and learning to think with a high-risk personnel security mind set.

"In other law enforcement positions your job is to shoot the bad guy. Here your mission is to take the bullet for the boss," said Cruz. "The goal is to protect him and get him away from danger and you're more concerned with that than attacking and killing the enemy."

Associated Images

Control Panel