Subscribe
BANGLADESH (March 7, 2018)--A platoon of military police officers from the U.S. Army 728th Military Police Battalion underwent a field training exercise on patrolling techniques, Feb. 28, 2018, as part of Exercise Shanti Doot 4 at the Bangladesh Institute of Peace Support Operation Training (BIPSOT), Bangladesh. Shanti Doot 4 is a multinational United Nations peacekeeping exercise with over 1,000 participants from about 30 countries with the goal of providing pre-deployment training to U.N. partner nations in preparation for real-world peacekeeping operations around the globe.
“In Peacekeeping, the main missions of patrolling are surveillance, area domination, confidence building, security investigation, etc.,” Sid Bob Lidstone, a 37-year veteran of the Canadian army and a subject matter expert at Shanti Doot. “One aspect of my experience that is unique is that I have both military and humanitarian experience … consequently I can apply personal experience from both sides of the peacekeeping partnership.”
Lidstone, along with a team of multinational instructors ran the platoon through multiple scenarios and practiced the techniques the instructors had gone over with the platoon that morning. These scenarios were designed to reflect the different situations peacekeepers might come across during deployments and help teach the peacekeepers how to best deal with them.
The important thing that the instructors wanted to get across to the international platoons is that patrolling as a peacekeeper is not always the same as patrolling in a combat situation Lidstone said. The goal here is not to locate and destroy an enemy combatant but instead try and improve relations with locals and improve the overall situation in the. Many of the same skills are used in both military and peacekeeping patrols, but the purpose behind each of them differs.
U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Madalynn Long, a military police officer from the 728th Military Police Battalion and the leader of the MP platoon at Shanti Doot understood the value of the lessons from the instructors during this training event
“Not everyone in my position gets to come to another country with their platoon and learn a completely different mission under completely different ROE and set parameters,” said Long. “I think the most important part this type of mission is the presence of establishing peace and getting eyes on and getting a feel for what the villagers are experiencing.”
Long and her platoon went through the entire field training event without needing to fire a single shot, managing to successfully negotiate with rebels, collect intelligence, calm upset villagers and even deal with a simulated mass casualty event. According to Lindstone, one of the goals of Shanti Doot 4 is to teach service members how to display that type of restraint while successfully completing their missions.
In addition to the patrolling class and field, there are multiple subject matter experts from numerous countries participating in Shanti Doot 4. They are sharing information and expertise in a variety of topics ranging from field medicine, explosive ordinance disposal, and proper procedures for helping to secure and maintain a humanitarian distribution site
The aim of Shanti Doot 4 is to help produce more effective, confident and capable peacekeepers from all member nations. In addition to increasing capability and capacities for the countries involved. Shanti Doot also 4 aims to increase and improve the relationships between these nations and promote security in the Indo-Pacific region.
“The product of U.N. peacekeeping operation training overall is to convert trained soldiers into peacekeepers by using the existing soldiers skills re-directed to peacekeeping operation purposes,” Lidstone said. “Working multinationally on this exercise introduces everyone to the real world situations encountered on peacekeeping missions and equips them with some of the basic skills that they may not otherwise possess.”
| Date Taken: | 03.07.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 03.06.2018 23:11 |
| Story ID: | 268394 |
| Location: | BD |
| Web Views: | 208 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, MPs Practice Patrolling at Shanti Doot 4, by Cpl Adam Montera, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
