Meleah Honeycutt

Honors Biology Career Report

Mrs. Honeycutt

U.S. Army Military Police Officer

As I was thinking about what I wanted to do when I grow up, several job ideas ran

through my head. As hard as I tried, I just could not possibly picture myself typing my life away

behind some old desk in some old office building. I realized I wanted, and needed something

more risky and exciting. I think something that would test me and be challenging would be more

my style. I had it narrowed it down to two jobs: Some kind of police officer, criminal

investigator, or the Army. As I researched, I recognized that I shouldn’t have to choose, and

with the Army’s Military Police, I don’t have to.

It takes a lot of work to become a Military Police Officer. It requires leadership skills as

well as hard work and patriotism. I plan on obtaining these qualities by first becoming a part of

the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), which is no doubt one of the most beneficial

leadership courses in America.

The ROTC is available in many colleges, including The Citadel; which would be my top

pick of colleges offering this program. If one were to go into this program, they would learn and

posses what it takes to instill confidence in troops and peers, and be able to cooperatively work

with other military personnel and civilians. These abilities would be mastered by anyone who

completed the ROTC, as an efficient leader, mentor, trainer, and an officer.

 The ROTC program has several different variations, according to which corps of the

military is appealing to me. At least three branches of the Armed Forces, the Navy, Marines, and

Air Force have an ROTC plans. I personally am interested in the Army ROTC, because of one

of the post careers of this course is the Military Police Corps. The Army ROTC trains and

prepares college students to excel in an infinite number of competitive environments. The

lessons and training the cadets acquire will earn them the rank as Second Lieutenant when they

graduate.

Once I graduate and complete the program, I will pursue my Military Police career. MPs

supply a necessary role across a wide spectrum of Army operations. MPs are often utilized

during defensive, offensive, stability, and civil support operations. They are in charge of leading

and directing U.S. Soldiers in the implementation of all five Military Police Battlefield

Functions. The five jobs include Internment Operations with U.S. military prisoners and enemy

soldiers, Area Security Operations, Law Enforcement Operations, Maneuver and Mobility

Support Operations like surveillance or Route reconnaissance, and Police Intelligence

Operations.

Some duties of an officer include:

 Interviewing witnesses, suspects, and victims of crimes under investigations

 Crime Scene processing and security

 Arresting and charging criminals

 Dog handling

 Enforcement of traffic rules and guarding military facility entrances

 To be an excellent and responsible MP, one would need to possess the skills to direct and

run small tactical MP organizations and groups or units (MP platoons usually). They must be

capable of imparting MP coordination at any level. MPs serve as an advisors to National Guard

organizations and Army Reserve.

The training to become an MP starts after you complete the Basic Officer Leader Course

II (BLOC II). To learn the tools and systems used in the corps, one would go to MPBOLC III

(Military Police BOLC III). In this training, a Military Police officer will obtain the necessary

leadership tactics. This ten week instruction program is held at the home of the MPC in Fort

Leonard Wood, Missouri. Training also includes One Station Unit Training (OSUT) for 5

months. This means on-the-job instruction (practice and police methods), Advanced Individual

training, and Basic Training. Warrior skills, use of firearms, procedures for crowd and traffic

control, civil law and military jurisdiction knowledge, and evidence gathering procedures are

only some of the knowledge and skill sets gained at this course.

A Military Police Officer has a steady income of about $60, 000. The typical Active

Duty service member collects a compensation package deal worth $99,000. Non-cash rewards

are health care, retirement pay, child care, subsidized or free food, education, and housing, along

with constant cash recompenses.

I chose to interview my preacher, Phil Barnes of the Madison Church of Christ, who was

a Military Police officer. When I asked him to give examples of a typical day on the job he told

me that the only thing really typical was that one had to be ready for the day to be atypical.

“You just had to be ready for situations to change really fast,” he said. According to him, one

needed to have good training as well. Mr. Barnes told me his day started the same way each
morning. He would wake up, and everyone would go to the armory and collect their weapons,

then they would head to what was called the Guard Mount (roll call). Each would be briefed on

crimes committed the shift before, and details of the case after that. Uniform inspection came

next.

Phil was a Garrison MP, which is basically a regular police officer instead of an MP

officer guard. He also trained as a sniper with the SWAT team. Eight to ten hours, he told me,

was the usual working hours per day.

Phil informed me that the best things about his job was the terrific people he worked

alongside and how he got to help people. He went into some detail about how much he loved it.

He wouldn’t change anything about it, he said. It was an amazing experience to him and let me

know that if he wasn’t preaching, he would still be in the Army there.

The main reasons I looked into the Military Police were that I could work in criminal

justice and serve my country. After this research and talking with Phil, I think this might be the

career God is calling me to as well.