Guardian Justice: Establishing unity through understanding

Photo By Sgt. Adam Parent | 1st. Lt. Erik Pfaff, U.S. Army Reserve logistics officer for the 304th Military Police Battalion, speaks to approximately 200 U.S. Army Reserve and Canadian military police Soldiers at a briefing on exercise Guardian Justice at Fort McCoy, Wisc., June 20, 2016. Guardian Justice is a military police exercise that focuses on detention operations and combat support. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Adam Parent)  

FORT MCCOY, WI, UNITED STATES

06.20.2016

Story by Spc. Adam Parent 

220th Public Affairs Detachment

The exercise began with a briefing to prepare incoming military police Soldiers from all over the country about the training they will be receiving over the course of the next two weeks, inform them about the focus of Guardian Justice, and to answer any questions they had about the exercise.
“The purpose of this exercise is to provide units a foundation and support to conduct individual soldier skill training,” said Capt. James Balukowski, the battalion operations officer for the 304th Military Police Battalion out of Nashville, Tennessee.
Balukowski explained that this training is essential for military police soldiers in the U.S. Army Reserve because they do not have as much time to train as active duty soldiers, but they have to meet the same standards as soldiers in the active component. Guardian Justice gives the military police soldiers in the Army Reserve the ability to train with the same resources as a full time military police unit.
“For a lot of reservists and National Guard, they don't get the opportunity to train, and then do follow-up training the next day, and then get tested the next day, and then get retested and evaluated,” said Sgt. 1st Class Grant C. Smith, the head non-lethal weapons instructor for Guardian Justice, from the 290th Military Police Brigade out of Nashville, Tennessee. “So as a soldier it allows you to become a little more proficient at each task, and more importantly allows the leaders to evaluate their soldiers and improve their shortcomings, and help to strengthen their weaknesses.”
The hands-on focus of exercise Guardian Justice is training military police soldiers on detention operations and combat support roles on the battlefield. Throughout this cycle of exercise Guardian Justice, the military police Soldiers will also be trained on non-lethal weapons, dismounted patrols, and detainee processing.
Now that the military police Soldiers of the U.S. Army Reserve have been briefed about the focus and expectations of Guardian Justice, they are ready to start their two weeks of summer training.

• Date Taken: 06.20.2016
• Date Posted: 06.21.2016 16:01
• Story ID: 201961
• Location: FORT MCCOY, WI, US
• Hometown: FORT MCCOY, WI, US