Photo By Cpl. Jonathan Boynes | Sergeant Marlon Madison, a military police working dog trainer with Special Purpose...... read more read more
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CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - With the world’s ever-changing political and social landscape, the Marine Corps must ensure it remains flexible and ready to respond to new crises at a moment’s notice. Ensuring that these readiness standards remain intact, certification exercises are conducted regularly throughout the Corps, testing unit performance across a broad spectrum of mission sets and core mission essential tasks.
Most recently, Marines Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force Crisis Response Central Command 15.2 (SP-MAGTF-CR-CC) conducted their CertEx aboard several locations across Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, and Idaho Feb. 5-14, 2015.
The SP-MAGTF-CR-CC Law Enforcement Detachment, a diverse collection of approximately 20 Marines from 1st Law Enforcement Battalion with various jobs and skill sets, was one of the units testing its abilities during the training.
“The law enforcement detachment is primarily here to enable the SP-MAGTF-CR-CC to better accomplish missions at every level,” said 1st Lt Brian Rickards, the SP-MAGTF-CR-CC law enforcement detachment officer in charge. “We provide law enforcement capabilities including non-lethal weapons capabilities, military working dogs, investigations, exploitation analysis and personal security details, among other things. The assets that we provide are vital. Without the ability to provide law enforcement guidance at the level that we do, maintaining stability within certain regions would be much harder.”
With many modern-day wars and conflicts being of a less-conventional nature, being able to effectively distinguish between enemy combatants from the civilian populace and operating in more urbanized environments is of critical importance to today’s Marine.
“A huge advantage that we bring to the battlefield is the ability to minimize the enemy’s anonymity,” said Staff Sgt. Blake Lewis, criminal investigations division agent with SP-MAGTF-CR-CC. “Whether it’s during a raid, patrol, or any situation on the battlefield, we have the capability to capture biometric samples and paint a better picture of the environment to get an edge over the enemy.”
On top of being able to sift through the blending civilian and enemy population and effectively track targets, Improvised Explosive Devices remain an ever-present threat to American forces in today’s conflicts.
Sergeant Marlon Madison, a military police working dog trainer, explained though military working dogs are an irreplaceable asset on the battlefield in terms of detecting ordnance and providing a safer and more maneuverable environment for Marines, their capabilities reach far beyond that.
“The training that we set up is very realistic,” said Marlon. “We’ve done several miles of patrolling and various searches with the dogs. We can search roadways, vehicles, houses, and nearly every type of terrain imaginable. They can also escort vehicles and conduct search-and- rescue missions as well. The versatility of the dogs is very impressive and they can perform many functions outside of just finding IEDs.”
The SP-MAGTF-CR-CC’s law enforcement detachment is a microcosm of the military law enforcement community, encompassing many capabilities of a larger battalion. What it lacks in numbers, it makes up for in effectiveness and versatility.
| Date Taken: | 02.14.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 02.13.2015 20:41 |
| Story ID: | 154518 |
| Location: | CAMP PENDLETON, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 273 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
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