MISSION AT HAND, NON-VIOLENT, NON-COMPLIANT

CUBA

03.29.2016

Story by Sgt. Matthew Tarpley 

Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs

Master Sgt. Lawrence Mawhinney, a noncommissioned officer for 744th MP Bn., was previously involved with similar exercises. The exercises effectively began with the concept of needing to learn how to communicate with other services.

“That went well, but we identified some issues,” said Mawhinney. “We wanted to work off of their finds and help communication among the branches. We need to know how the Coast Guard talks, how the Navy talks, and they need to know how we talk (Army).”

Mawhinney was not the only one who wanted to see the branches work well among one another, so were the Troopers involved with the exercise.
“This is a good assignment to do,” said Sgt. Gelono Joshua, a Trooper with the 744th MP Bn., “to get an idea of how all the parts come into play.”

Joshua played the part of the protestor group. He was eager to see the exercise in action. The role-players had their mission and readily started heading toward the gate to face the guards. Guards and the quick reaction force put into practice all the training they received in how to handle the situation of a rowdy crowd of protestors.

“Between them having the boat come in and the rowdy crowd coming up at the same time,” said Spc. John T. Walters, a Trooper with the 744th MP Bn., “it was a thrill.”

As the crowd walked up the hill chanting, yelling, playing loud music and trying to cause chaos, the guards immediately started taking action and following directions as they called up to their command post. The guards began closing and locking the gate, relaying information to their higher headquarters about what they saw, telling the crowd to leave the area.

“Being compliant with SOPs and listening to what they said and what they were doing – you have to be pretty good at multitasking,” said Walters.

While the QRF and the master-at-arms began interacting with the crowd and trying to get them to disperse, they practiced how to properly search, restrain and escort people away in an effort to keep order and peace. Instructors approvingly nodded their heads, with a few taking notes on improvements for future training exercises.

“Overall, we have a pretty solid plan,” said Mawhinney. “It may not go exactly as envisioned, but we will address any issues we discover.”

The exercise took around an hour to get both groups under control. Finally, the moment of truth of came out when officers-in-charge and noncommissioned officers-in-charge started conducting after action reviews.

It was clear from the feedback from different branches of the military felt communication was a huge success. Everyone felt eager and energized and cannot wait for the next one.

• Date Taken: 03.29.2016
• Date Posted: 08.23.2016 07:35
• Story ID: 207548
• Location: CU