Getting the Call “Raging bull” is what came over the phone when I answered the call around lunch time on November the 6th 2003. On the other end of the line was the brigade AO, “SSG Carrier, I guess you have heard by now?” “Heard what sir?” I said. Actually I had, one of my younger Soldiers had called me stating that his mother had heard it on the news that the 1103rd was deploying to Iraq. And sure enough, I turned on the television in the armory and there it was on the 12 o’clock news the 1103rd MP DET Law& Order was being deployed to Iraq. I stood in amazement to say the least as I listened to the news reporter. How, why us, I thought to myself. Do they know the 1103rd is not a combat support company; have the powers to
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Obviously, somebody was looking at something that we weren’t looking at, because that didn’t stop the next fifteen months from happening.
Getting Ready For Wheels Up The next three months were excruciating professionally and personal. In order to plus us up we received over eighteen new Soldiers; straight out of MP school. This weighed on me tremendously because they were young, in every aspect. However on the other hand they were experienced MPs, fresh out training. They were the latest and greatest Fort Leonard Wood had to offer, they were well disciplined, and I knew they would have a lot to offer my Soldiers that had just taken on their new role as MPs. Luckily for me I did have some experienced NCOs and Officers, my Operations NCO was a Vietnam Veteran with over 35 plus years of service, one SSG was a Desert Shield/ Storm veteran, and I had several that were police officers in their civilian occupations. Our detachment commander was a seasoned MP …show more content…
We were just tasked to operate and function as Provisional MP Battalion, a National Guard that was comprised of over half junior enlisted Soldiers straight out of Advanced Individual Training (AIT) and the other half cooks, admin clerks, and supply specialists; that are now MPs. I had junior E5s serving as Battle NCOs in a battalion Tactical Operations Center (TOC); E7s serving as Battle Captains. I did however luck out and have a prior 35F Intelligence Analyst from the old FSB. Our area of operations (AO) would include five provinces; An Najaf, Al Qadislyah, Babil, Karbala, and Wasit. Our mission was to train, teach, coach, mentor, and equip the Iraqi Police (IP) in our AO. What added to our frustration would be the provinces were once occupied by MP companies ranging from 150 to 180 MPs; unfortunately that would change in 2004 to where MP platoons would take over operations in these provinces. Looking back, overall we had a successful deployment, but untimely events would set us back yet again. Seven months into the deployment we had to jump TOC and relocate to Diwaniyha. Not even one month after recovering from the move, we were notified they had not found are replacement. Thirteen months we were away from our loved ones, not to include the two month train up period in Kentucky. Of course I left out a lot of amazing things the 1103rd accomplished while deployed. I
Obviously, somebody was looking at something that we weren’t looking at, because that didn’t stop the next fifteen months from happening.
Getting Ready For Wheels Up The next three months were excruciating professionally and personal. In order to plus us up we received over eighteen new Soldiers; straight out of MP school. This weighed on me tremendously because they were young, in every aspect. However on the other hand they were experienced MPs, fresh out training. They were the latest and greatest Fort Leonard Wood had to offer, they were well disciplined, and I knew they would have a lot to offer my Soldiers that had just taken on their new role as MPs. Luckily for me I did have some experienced NCOs and Officers, my Operations NCO was a Vietnam Veteran with over 35 plus years of service, one SSG was a Desert Shield/ Storm veteran, and I had several that were police officers in their civilian occupations. Our detachment commander was a seasoned MP …show more content…
We were just tasked to operate and function as Provisional MP Battalion, a National Guard that was comprised of over half junior enlisted Soldiers straight out of Advanced Individual Training (AIT) and the other half cooks, admin clerks, and supply specialists; that are now MPs. I had junior E5s serving as Battle NCOs in a battalion Tactical Operations Center (TOC); E7s serving as Battle Captains. I did however luck out and have a prior 35F Intelligence Analyst from the old FSB. Our area of operations (AO) would include five provinces; An Najaf, Al Qadislyah, Babil, Karbala, and Wasit. Our mission was to train, teach, coach, mentor, and equip the Iraqi Police (IP) in our AO. What added to our frustration would be the provinces were once occupied by MP companies ranging from 150 to 180 MPs; unfortunately that would change in 2004 to where MP platoons would take over operations in these provinces. Looking back, overall we had a successful deployment, but untimely events would set us back yet again. Seven months into the deployment we had to jump TOC and relocate to Diwaniyha. Not even one month after recovering from the move, we were notified they had not found are replacement. Thirteen months we were away from our loved ones, not to include the two month train up period in Kentucky. Of course I left out a lot of amazing things the 1103rd accomplished while deployed. I