Photo By Adam Holguin | First Sgt. William Schultz, first sergeant, 342nd Military Police Co., listens to a...... read more read more
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FORT BLISS, Texas -The 342nd Military Police Company, a United States Army Reserve unit based in Columbus, Ohio, returned stateside Feb. 26, arriving at the Silas L. Copeland Arrival/Departure Air Control Group airfield after completing a detainee operations mission in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Brig. Gen. Marion Garcia, deputy commander operations, 200th Military Police Command, came down to Fort Bliss to welcome home the returning unit. The 200th MP Command is the highest U.S. Army Reserve Military Police Headquarters and provides command and control for over 90 percent of Reserve MPs, including the 342nd MP Company.
“I had the great pleasure of actually working with them in Guantanamo because I was deployed there myself prior to coming home,” said Garcia. “I can tell you that they are absolutely outstanding troops. I’m proud of the way they represented the Army Reserves and the U.S. Military Police Corps and I really look forward to welcoming them home and getting them back with their families.”
Unit leadership was cognizant of the stressful nature of detainee operations and made a unified effort to support all the Soldiers during the long, repetitious days.
“The mission was both physically and mentally challenging so it was important for us as a command team to make sure to go out and walk through the camps and visit (Soldiers) on shift,” said Capt. Stephen Hizer, commander, 342nd MP Company. “It’s all about the Soldiers, they do all the hard work, without them we couldn’t be successful.”
Although the Soldiers had an established schedule for their shifts, the inherent nature of the job proved difficult.
“The days are very tiring; Soldiers worked very long days, 12 hour shifts,” said 1st Sgt. William Schultz, first sergeant, 342nd MP Co. “By the time you get up, get ready, get to the facility, work your shift, get back and do physical training, it really is a 14 or 15 hour day. Extremely long,”
The nine-month deployment was a departure from the norm for the military police unit which usually mobilizes in a combat support capacity, but after completing two months of training at Fort Bliss and McGregor Range, New Mexico in preparation for this mission, the unit excelled in the internment and resettlement role.
“The training we received out at Westbrook was a great introduction to detainee ops for a lot soldiers,” said 1st Lt. Seth Bernard, executive officer, 342nd MP Co. “They really set us up for success, there wasn’t a big gap when we got on the island of what we were taught here and what we had to learn when we got there.”
“The training here was excellent, it really did open our eyes to what we were getting into,” said Shultz, echoing that sentiment. “When we got to Guantanamo Bay and saw the facility, the type of work we were going to be doing, we were able to look back at our training and say, ‘you know, this did help, this was good stuff.’”
The support of the leadership lifted unit morale and created a positive work culture throughout the unit.
“The Unit exceeded my expectations because the leadership definitely stepped in and helped out the ‘Joes’ more than I was expecting,” said Spc. Katheryn Bayless, who cross-leveled into the 342nd for this deployment. “If we had any problems any issues, they were there to resolve whatever the issues were.”
The leadership’s efforts at support was a constant.
“Off shift, if they were doing any of the competitions that (Family and) Morale, Welfare, and Recreation was hosting we’d go out and compete with them. And if we weren’t competing we were definitely there to show our support,” said Hizer.
Bernard was proud of the Soldiers for taking the mission head on and the completing the deployment with zero incidents.
“Our Soldiers were very professional; they did their job well,” said Bernard. “They didn’t pay attention to things that were outside of their control, they focused on what they could control and they did that to the best of their ability.”
After completing the demobilization process with the Mobilization and Deployment branch of the Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security the 342nd MP Company will return to their family and friends after eleven months away from home.
| Date Taken: | 03.05.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 03.05.2015 11:46 |
| Story ID: | 156070 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 2,993 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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