3175TH MPs TRAIN TO DEPLOY

Photo By Spc. Scott Hines | Soldiers from the 3175th Military Police Company, Warrenton, Missouri, give commands to a simulated enemy detainee during annual training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, June 10, 2018. The Soldiers detained simulated enemy personnel, conducted searches and questioned the detainees for intelligence-gathering purposes. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Spc. Scott Hines)  

FORT LEONARD WOOD, MO, UNITED STATES

06.11.2018

Story by Spc. Scott Hines 

70th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

Many of the members of the 3175th had not been back to the installation since they first attended Basic and Advanced Individual Training here at the United States Army Military Police School. For many of the soldiers in the company, this two-week refresher course was a return “home” to Fort Leonard Wood.
Much of the day-to-day operation of military police units is traffic management and enforcement, detainee operations and route reconnaissance. Detainee operations are a major part of the MP mission.
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Sgt. Shawn Harris is a team leader with the 3175th and a police officer with the City of Bellefontaine Neighbors outside of St. Louis. As part of the annual training exercise and in preparation for an upcoming deployment, Harris taught several classes on vehicle searches and the searching of detainees specifically geared toward traffic control points.
Harris showed his soldiers the proper way to conduct vehicle searches. From removing all occupants of the vehicle, to checking the undercarriage, engine compartment, wheels and tires, Harris had his soldiers repeat the processes. He offered corrections and pointers, until they could do it without his instruction and reinforced the importance of thorough vehicle searches as a means to protect others from possible vehicle bombs.
“You want to make sure there are no explosives or weapons in the vehicle,” Harris explained. “Anyone who wants to do harm, they’re going to find any way they can.”
Harris held his soldiers to a high standard during the training due to a real concern of potential threats. Once the soldiers completed the refresher class on detainee searches, they loaded up their vehicles and headed out to a training area for a simulated detainee operation.
Several 3175th HMMWVs crested a small hill at one of Fort Leonard Wood’s training areas. They quickly created a security perimeter over an approximately one-acre area to receive enemy combatant detainees from a simulated foreign military source.
Among the soldiers riding in the vehicles was Spc. Brandon Klee, of Warrenton, Missouri. As with many National Guard units, soldiers in the 3175th come from various backgrounds. Klee was an infantryman in the United States Marine Corps before transitioning into the Missouri National Guard as a military police officer five years ago.
Klee’s team got out of the HMMWVs and prepared to receive the detainees from the simulated foreign military source’s truck. Suddenly Klee’s team was under fire. The source turned on Klee and the other members of his unit, opening fire on them with paintball guns.
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Klee took cover behind the enemy vehicle as he and others realized they had been ambushed. Engaged from all but one side, other members of Klee’s unit closed in to assist, returning fire while leaving several of the HMMWVs manned with turret gunners to maintain their perimeter.
The enemy moved quickly from the nearby tree line and engaged Klee’s team from behind a nearby gravel pile. Klee’s team performed a flanking maneuver and overran the enemy position.
“We first took contact from over there,” Klee said, indicating the farthest reach of the training area. “And then we called our QRF [Quick Reaction Force] over there too and shot three combatants.”
Despite the advantage of surprise being with the enemy force, Klee’s team won the day.
The soldiers of the 3175th Military Police Company, and thousands like them, depend on these skills to perform their daily duties and ensure the safety of maneuver forces across the range of military operations.
The 3175th will continue to train their soldiers in basic soldiering skills and military police functions in preparation for a 2019 deployment to the US Southern Command area of operations.
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• Date Taken: 06.11.2018
• Date Posted: 06.15.2018 09:31
• Story ID: 281050
• Location: FORT LEONARD WOOD, MO, US