Military police transformation

Military Police, April, 2005 by Eric Belcher

Transform v 1. to alter markedly the appearance or form 2. to change the nature, function, or condition

Transformation n. an act or instance of transforming or the state of being transformed

Webster's II, 1984 (1)

The words "transform" and "transformation" have been heard a lot lately, but what do they really mean for the Military Police Corps? The definitions above give a broad view of these commonly used words, but the Army's current transformation is about more than just changing "the nature, function, or condition" of its forces. The Human Resources Command is doing more than just altering the appearance and form of Army forces, and it is doing this to better support the Global War on Terrorism while simultaneously transforming the Army. It is synchronizing the personnel management system to the Army's battle rhythm to support a nation at war. This is not business as usual. The Army is transforming while it fights and that requires a cultural change in how personnel are provided for the force. The Army is changing its culture and will do so quickly to ensure that it optimizes capabilities and becomes more joint and expeditionary in nature. The Military Police Corps has an enormous role to play in this culture change.

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The Army is changing the way it organizes to fight. Active duty brigades will transform into 38 modular brigade combat teams (BCTs) and 5 Stryker BCTs (SBCTs) by the end of fiscal year (FY) 2007. The National Guard will have 34 BCTs by FY09. A decision on whether or not to add five more BCTs to the Active Army will be made in FY06. These BCTs are standardized designs and can easily tailor themselves for specific operational and tactical requirements. There are four types of BCTs: heavy, light, Stryker, and airborne-air assault. Each has a broad range of capabilities and is designed to function independently from other organizations with much of its support being organic. Through transformation, the Military Police Corps will inactivate all division military police companies. However, organic to the brigade troops battalion of each BCT will be a 41-soldier military police platoon. This new platoon will have three squads with four teams each and will serve as a template for the future design of all military police platoons to standardize platoon structure throughout the Military Police Corps.

Each BCT will have a military police planning section consisting of a captain (provost marshal) and a sergeant first class to plan, coordinate, integrate, and synchronize military police support for brigade operations. This team will also help the brigade staff assimilate additional military police units if the need arises to plus-up military police forces for a mission set. Further, the provost marshal and sergeant first class will help the military police platoon leadership to plan, train for, and execute military police missions. Additionally, the provost marshal is a special staff officer to the brigade commander. He has additional unique responsibilities that include Title 10 and regulatory compliance and reporting requirements for law enforcement and criminal investigations, antiterrorism, physical security, and detainee operations.

The Army will manage most of the BCTs through the life cycle process, which means a three-year tour for soldiers assigned to these brigades. The old way of managing careers and timelines will change. Lieutenants will get promoted to captain while in the brigade. Many military police soldiers will be promoted and will serve in positions not normally associated with their ranks. The personnel management system is being transformed to ensure that careers are only positively affected by these changes.

The focus and changes associated with going to brigades managed through the life cycle process will make the Army more relevant and ready. It will provide more cohesive and combat-ready formations. It will also provide a more stable and predictable lifestyle for soldiers and their families, make combat units more agile and tailorable, and provide more high-demand units and skills. Since the Reserve Component is also transforming, there will be commonality across the entire Army by FY10. (2)

Division and corps headquarters are changing as well. The new Unit of Employment X (UEx) will replace the current division headquarters and will have modular command posts with greater capabilities. It will also absorb some of the capabilities from the corps headquarters, which is also being eliminated. More specifics will follow, but the current UEx design has a provost marshal cell of 13 soldiers, an increase from the 6 found in the current divisions.

The good news does not stop there. The Military Police Corps (Active Army, Army Reserve, and Army National Guard) will see a significant increase in force structure and authorizations over the next six years. To support Army operational requirements, the increase of Active Army units and the accelerated activation of selected Reserve Component units will occur during the next three to four years. In support of near-term actions, the Office of the Provost Marshal General, the US Army Military Police School (USAMPS), and the Army's force management personnel are urgently developing the implementation plan for Army leadership approval. Within a few months, new military police units will activate as a result of the internment/resettlement (I/R) redesign approved by the Army Chief of Staff and the decision made by senior Army leadership to increase the size of the Military Police Corps within all Army components. The current phased plan calls for--