The Military Police [MP] Superthread

[pbi]

Your idea about convoy escorts and enhance Force Protection Ops is a good one and I personally have pushed for movement towards this but unfortunately my experience has shown this isn't something the MP world is all that interested in either in the Militia or in the Reg Force at this point in time.   If the decision was made to go this route there would be some challenges to overcome, not the least of which would be wrestling the convoy escort task away from Recce Sqns, prying the Militia MPs out of their nice Milverados which are totally unsuited for a task of this type and answering question of what their task(s) would be during domestic Ops, but this is definately an area to look at IMHO.

Unfortunately, I think that the MP world is overly focused on Res MPs being "cops" or "pseudo-cops"to the exclusion of a more meaningful role. This may be equally true of the RegF MPs but I'm not commenting on that. To me, the force protection is a very necessary and vital role. It is not the job of recce squadrons: ISTAR assets on the battlefield are much too badly needed to carry out the "Sense" role to be wasted in secondary "shield" roles. It is also unrealistic to expect that we can expend our limited supply of infantry on these tasks, which are considerable and varied. Instead, we will find (as the US has) that the overwhelming function of the MPs in the theatre of ops will be force protection. In support of this, I offer the testimony of MGen Natynczyk who recently spoke to us here at CFC about his experiences as Deputy Corps Commander for Support in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Amongst the numerous brigades of support troops he commanded were several of MPs. Of this total, only a very, very small fraction were engaged in criminal investigation: the rest were all in FP roles.

If the Res MPs cannot really be "police" under our current policies, then maybe what we should do is take those vacancies from the control and influence of the MP branch, and reallocate them completely to the CLS, redesignated as "Force Protection Companies", with emphasis on convoy and base protection, etc. At least then they will have a real (and vitally important) job.

As for making Res role decisions based on how a unit might be employed in a domestic op, I suggest that is not a very good way to go. Our role in domestic ops is best performed when we do what we usually do: offering general support using skills developed by training for military operations. If we go down the rabbit-hole of training Res for dom nops, we may find it very difficult to use them for anythig else.

Cheers.

 

[S McKee]

If the Res MPs cannot really be "police" under our current policies, then maybe what we should do is take those vacancies from the control and influence of the MP branch, and reallocate them completely to the CLS, redesignated as "Force Protection Companies", with emphasis on convoy and base protection, etc. At least then they will have a real (and vitally important) job.

Cheers.

This is definately the way to go. I've argued for years that the term "police" be removed altogether from P Res MP, since as a branch have never gotten our collective act together and decided what exactly the P Res MP should do. I agree that all Res MP should fall under the CLS and be re-named Force Protection.

 

[Poppa]

PBI, Jumper.

I and some others have been saying this is the way to go for quite some time. The way I see our trade going now and the proposed changes will see us become more of a "auxiliary" force or cadet program. This isn't what I joined for.
Force Protection is our gig.
Should we get out of all "policing" roles? No...I don't think so. We should be learning accident investigating (Force Protection)Some basic "invest" type stuff so we can be a second on any investigations. We can't totally get out of the Cop Lite because we do deploy and some of the skill sets are useful.

I would love to be a straight Army resource, make us part of the Bdes in our areas, get us out of the ASGs.

My $0.02

 

[S McKee]

Force Protection is taking on a life of it's own. The Reg Force Navy, Airforce are on the band wagon. I see this as a perfect niche role for P Res MP since the Reg Force do not have the bodies to spare for yet another task. Now we are taking over the close protection role from JTF (another waste of police resources). In my opinion Reg MP should focus on policing skills. We are sliding back into the "Jack-of-all-trades master of none." syndrome. A P Res Force Protection Unit would be an ideal solution. Rudimentary police skills could be taught, such as securing an accident or crime scene but nothing beyond that.

 

[Aero]

Hello,

On the CF recruiting site, it says to become a Military Police Officer you must have an undergrad degree in a "related field." My question is, is it possible to get an undergrad degree from RMC and become an MP O? If not, what exactly do they look for as a university degree?

Thank you,
Aero

 

[kincanucks]

Yes, as long as you take Computer Science or Business Administration as preferred degrees or Military and Strategic Studies or Political and Economic Science as acceptable degrees.

 

[boots]

Computer science is a preferred degree for MPO? That hadn't even occured to me. I guess I never really looked closely at the army jobs though.

edit: Never mind, it's not an army-specific job. My mistake. However, the recruiting page's description doesn't list a preferred degree for this, so that makes me wonder what other officer positions (in any element) might have computer science listed as 'preferred'.

 

[kincanucks]

Computer science is a preferred degree for MPO? That hadn't even occured to me. I guess I never really looked closely at the army jobs though.

edit: Never mind, it's not an army-specific job. My mistake. However, the recruiting page's description doesn't list a preferred degree for this, so that makes me wonder what other officer positions (in any element) might have computer science listed as 'preferred'.

Are you asking a question?

Officer occupations for which Computer Science is the preferred degree at RMC:

Aerospace Control Officer
Electrical Mechanical Engineer
CELE (Air)
Sigs O

and is acceptable for:

21 ARMD
22 ARTY
23 INF
24 ENGRS
31 ANAV
32 PLT
41 AERE
87 NCS ENG
88 MS ENG

 

[Aero]

By "accepted" , since I want to major in Military and Strategic Studies, does that mean I'd have less of a priority to be accepted over someone who said they'd study Business Administration?

Thank you,
Aero

 

[boots]

Since you put it that way.
I found this thread http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/1335.0.html but it doesn't really answer the question that I was hinting at.


Ahhh you modified your post while I was typing, thank you.

I thought AERE didn't take CS? It wasn't listed on the recruiting page's description either. I bet I'd like that one more than CELE if I don't do ANAV, but either way it gives me more choices.

 

[kincanucks]

By "accepted" , since I want to major in Military and Strategic Studies, does that mean I'd have less of a priority to be accepted over someone who said they'd study Business Administration?

Thank you,
Aero

"Acceptable" and no you would have the same chance based on your files.

 

[Aero]

I just have a couple of more things to ask,

Firstly, as an MP O, is there any way to "choose" if I'm assigned to Army, Air Force, or Navy ranks?

Secondly, could you by any chance inform me on the MP O prospects (As in, how many ROTP with St-Jean spots were available this year)? I hear it's quite competitive to become an MP O, so I am curious about actual open slots and such.

Thank you,
Aero

 

[kincanucks]

I just have a couple of more things to ask,

Firstly, as an MP O, is there any way to "choose" if I'm assigned to Army, Air Force, or Navy ranks?

Secondly, could you by any chance inform me on the MP O prospects (As in, how many ROTP with St-Jean spots were available this year)? I hear it's quite competitive to become an MP O, so I am curious about actual open slots and such.

Thank you,
Aero

You can ask for a specific element you want to go in but it is ultimately what the CF needs.

how many ROTP with St-Jean spots were available this year

Are you asking for the number of Senior or Junior positions or what are you asking here?

 

[Aero]

Are you asking for the number of Senior or Junior positions or what are you asking here?

Well, I was wondering what quota recruiters had for how many MP O's to accept into ROTP (with Prep year) for the 2005-2006 year. I'm not sure what you mean by senior and junior positions, but I'm basically wanting to know how many ROTP w/St-Jean MP O "positions" or "spots" were available for this year, so I can get an idea of how many they look for, and to gauge what kind of chance I'd have.

Sorry if I'm not clear enough,
Aero

 

[kincanucks]

Are you asking for the number of Senior or Junior positions or what are you asking here?

Well, I was wondering what quota recruiters had for how many MP O's to accept into ROTP (with Prep year) for the 2005-2006 year. I'm not sure what you mean by senior and junior positions, but I'm basically wanting to know how many ROTP w/St-Jean MP O "positions" or "spots" were available for this year, so I can get an idea of how many they look for, and to gauge what kind of chance I'd have.

Sorry if I'm not clear enough,
Aero

Senior = straight into RMC

Junior = Preparatory year in Fort St Jean

 

[Aero]

Ah, ok, thank you for clarifying that.

Now, then, could you tell me how many Junior positions were available this year for the MP O trade?

Thank you,
Aero

 

[kincanucks]

Sorry I just checked and there are no positions for MPO through ROTP this year.

 

[prairiedog]

I am currently at home and not on the DIN but your latest views and chats are all discussed in the latest Branch CF Transformation paper that was just published.  It should be on the VCDS DIN site or floating around your respective Guardhouses.  It has a large emphasis on big M and little p or at least leveling them out.  Wait for it, dogs, active shooter programs, anti snipers, ERT, Hostage Negotiators, and a number of other programs are currently being looked at for the MPs to do, apparently they are hoping to not have the title "Jack of All, Master of None" so we will see.  There is also a recent CANFORGEN about allowing more Reservists to apply for 3 yr, Force Protection jobs. Just wanted to add.  Cheers.

 

[blueboy]

As a past Officer in the Security Branch it is interesting to read  the recent posts regarding the trade and it's present direction. It seems that the more things change the more they stay the same. The Branch has always had the problem of attempting to keep up with the times but as the present jr NCM's and Officers become pormoted into positions of power over the years they attempt to put their "stamp" on the trade, and change things from within. For instance, the concept of dogs and close protection goes back to the 60's when the Air Force MP's were tasked to secure aircraft on the bases. They utilized dogs for that tasking and it worked very well. Now it appears that we have come full circle and are back in that position again. I also strongly believe that all support trades should be dressed in the Army environmental clothing. Only those trades which are strictly Navy or Air Force would be blue/black respectively. For example the MP's and Logistics/ Administration etc would all be Army. Just think of the savings that would result by not needing stock piles of DEU's awaiting to be issued in all three environments respectively.

 

[S McKee]

Don't even get started on the DEU thing. It took the branch how long to decide that members in OPD could all wear a red beret? All because the AF didn't want to play. I agree we should all be in army green.