Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Michael Behlin | Spc. Maria Hutchinson, a military police officer with the 57th Military Police...... read more read more
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SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii- Military Police Soldiers from the 57th Military Police Company “Centurions,” 728th MP Battalion, 8th MP Brigade, 8th Theater Sustainment Command participated in the 2017 Multinational Peacekeeping Exercise Shanti Prayas III at the Birendra Peace Operations Training Center in Nepal.
More than 1000 combined military personnel participated in Shanti Prayas III, a Global Peace Operations Initiative capstone exercise that is designed to train defense personnel for participation in United Nations peacekeeping missions. Exercise participants learn the skills needed to carry out U.N. peacekeeping mission directives and tasks during staff and field training events.
Highlighted among the military participants, were the MP Soldiers from the 57th MP Co., who came to be the standard-bearer for much of the training during the field training event.
“It was echoed numerous times throughout the exercise to me,” said Lt. Col. Chad Froehlich, Commander of 728th MP Bn., about the many accolades he has received. “Talking with the PACOM representatives there, they were very impressed with the way the company negotiated the lanes during the exercise.”
For Shanti Prayas III, which means “Peace Endeavor,” the rules of engagement (ROE) used are very different than what are used in combat and what many average U.S. Army Soldiers are familiar with. Froehlich said he contributed much of the success to the fact that it was a peacekeeping mission and that it was a platoon of MPs participating in the exercise rather than a platoon of infantrymen or armor crewmen.
“MPs deal with a type of peacekeeping rules of engagement on a daily basis when they are working law enforcement,” Froehlich explained. “There has to be a graduated level of response with the ROE, so they were a very good fit for the peacekeeping operations.”
Despite having some peacekeeping skills, Sgt. 1st Class Roland Carnahan of the 57th Military Police Company said it was still a learning experience for many of his Soldiers.
“They had to learn to work with an interpreter,” said Carnahan. “Many of them, [MP Soldiers], have not deployed before, so that was something new they had to work through.”
Through their adaptiveness, skills and leadership, the MPs embraced the challenges and prevailed.
“We learned how they [partner nations] operated during a U.N. peacekeeping mission and learned to have patience,” said Sgt. Franklin Rossetti, an MP Soldier with 57th MP Co.
Rossetti added, “Once we got the hang of it, it went smoothly.”
Froehlich said he was happy to see how effortlessly his Soldiers adapted and how well both, professionally and culturally, they engaged with the partner nations during the exercise.
He said PACOM representatives also noticed and requested to have the MPs return for next year’s exercise in Bangladesh.
U.S. Pacific Command is scheduled to co-host next years’ GPOI capstone exercise, Shanti Doot 4, in Bangladesh at the Bangladesh Institute of Peace Support Operation Training.
Froehlich added, “We are definitely interested in participating in next year’s exercise. Anytime we can reach out and work with our partners across the Pacific, it’s a win for achieving the strategic goals established by PACOM.”
| Date Taken: | 04.21.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 04.21.2017 22:43 |
| Story ID: | 231205 |
| Location: | SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, HI, US |
| Web Views: | 39 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, 8th MP’s ‘Centurions’ lead the way, strengthen multinational partnerships during Shanti Prayas III, by SFC Taresha Hill, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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