ISAF MPs enable Border Police Development

Photo By Spc. Nathan Goodall | Hours before dawn, soldiers with Military Police Platoon, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 40th Engineer Battalion, 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team prepare armored trucks before a patrol Northeast here Nov. 14, 2011. The military police soldiers are changing their area of operations to escort security force assistance teams to remote border crossing points.  

AFGHANISTAN

11.14.2011

Story by Spc. Nathan Goodall 

170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team

CAMP SPANN, Afghanistan – Nearly 10 months into a year-long deployment, U.S. Army soldiers with Military Police Platoon, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 40th Engineer Battalion, 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team are changing roles to help shape security forces along the northern border of Afghanistan.

“We have to professionalize the force all over the border, to include even the most remote locations,” said Lt. Col. Greg Numann in regards to what Afghan security forces need to take control of their country.

Combat outposts are established near commonly used border crossings so soldiers can help suppress illegal activity. But with security tight at these points, it’s anticipated that insurgents will look for alternative places to push through, said Numann, an Anchorage, Alaska native, now the brigade’s stability transition team staff officer.

However, setting up outposts near crossing points in more remote locations isn’t a plausible option. To improve Afghan security in those areas, military police soldiers are taking on a new role as a mobile unit that can escort security force assistance teams.

The teams assess Afghan security forces and look for ways they can improve operations, said Staff Sgt. Jamie Skiffington, the platoon sergeant with Military Police Platoon.

“They’re there to ensure those forces are ready for the transition when we leave,” Skiffington said.

So far, the teams haven’t been able to access remote parts of Afghanistan. The mobile unit gives military advisers the nomadic security they need to travel to faraway places, Numann said.

The skills and experience of the military police soldiers make them the ideal choice to escort the teams. It’s very similar to their previous job providing security for VIPs, said Spc. Steven E. Stam, a Salt Lake City native, now a team leader with Military Police Platoon.

As an M240 machine-gunner, Spc. Matthew L. Kludi, a Philadelphia native, is confident in his ability to perform this new task.

“My job doesn’t really change, just the areas that we’re going into,” Kludi said.

While being chosen by their leaders to become the mobile unit was a surprise, the importance of their new role isn’t lost on the military police soldiers.

“Getting Afghan forces ready to do the job on their own is the most important thing,” Stam said. “When they’re ready, they can keep the area safe without us.”

• Date Taken: 11.14.2011
• Date Posted: 11.17.2011 07:24
• Story ID: 80161
• Location: AF