Photo By Sgt. Chris Mann | Lance Cpl. Jake M. Wilkemeyer, a military policeman with MP Company, Marine Wing...... read more read more
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MARINE CORPS AIR STATION YUMA, Ariz. – Marines with Military Police Company, Marine Wing Support Squadron 471, Marine Wing Support Group 48, 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, recently began providing quick reactionary assistance and security for the aviation combat element of exercise Javelin Thrust 2011.
Javelin Thrust is a multi-unit exercise that allows elements from the Marine Air-Ground Task Force to work together in a training environment. This exercise is the Corps’ largest training exercises designed to coordinate and connect units together over distances between three separate states.
“This training helps supply Marines with many different scenarios that we could possibly face and is part of the never-ending job of the field MP,” said Cpl. James L. Harvath, a 25-year-old MP from Prior Lake, Minn. “It is our job to help anyone who needs help and go wherever the threat is.”
MP Marines have been providing security and assistance for the aircraft and support sections of the exercise, keeping operations running continuously day and night. MP Marines set up an entry control point at a camp developed by Wing Support Marines for the exercise.
An entry control point, or ECP, provides a measure of control that vehicles and personnel must stop at before they can enter the base.
This allows MPs to inspect individual vehicles and passengers.
MPs now run a 24-hour security post for the exercise, and the senior leadership is responsible to ensure base and perimeter security. Marine MPs inspect vehicles, as they enter the ECP and make certain each individual has been cleared to enter the base. MPs check identification cards and send radio messages to the combat operations center for approval to enter.
MP Marines say this training is important for unit readiness during the exercise, and will help them to prepare for upcoming deployments to combat zones and elsewhere throughout the world.
“This training is similar to what we did while I was on a deployment to Djibouti, Africa,” said Harvath. “While we were the QRF [Quick Reaction Force] in Djibouti, we had to be on site in five minutes or less.”
The MPs with MWSS-471 are also on call at all times to provide immediate assistance when needed. The MPs are the QRF for the ACE and provide complex reactions such as securing crash sites during the exercise.
The MPs staged their vehicles near their sleeping areas on site 50, to allow expeditious employment to an emergency situation while on QRF duty. The QRF mission will send the MPs to respond to a threat, after a unit calls for assistance to the Combat Operations Center for the ACE. Each Marine must maintain readiness to leave at a moment’s notice.
“We train to provide security and maintain a very high level of alertness while being a part of the QRF,” said Lance Cpl. Joseph J. Foster, a 22-year-old MP from Twin Cities, Minn. “We will head out to assist anyone who needs our help, and we strive to keep those Marines with the air wing safe.”
| Date Taken: | 07.25.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 07.28.2011 09:50 |
| Story ID: | 74446 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS AIR STATION YUMA, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 124 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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