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Marines

Photo Information

Cpl. Thomas Medovitch, a Marine with 4th LEB, North Versailles, Pa., gears up for a mission during training June 27 in Camp Dawson, WV. The Marines trained with authentic Afghan role players in order to better understand their role as a host nation advising team during an upcoming deployment.

Photo by Staff Sgt Jeffrey Cosola

4th Law Enforcement Battalion conducts policing, training exercise for Afghan deployment

23 Jul 2013 | Staff Sgt. Jeffrey A. Cosola U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve

Tensions are high. Hollow sounds of protesters slip between falling rain drops and over corrugated, 10-foot walls. Their heated voices whisper warnings among a Marine patrol that waits inside the walls, standing stiffly in a rock-strewn courtyard, anxiously checking and re-checking equipment.

Behind them, local police take silent drags of cigarettes. Slowly, one of them pulls a metal door open, the sound of creaking hinges quickly overcome by angry shouts and accusations exploding into the courtyard.

A lone interpreter turns to the Marine patrol.

"They say you arrest wrong guy."

As the Marines huddle together, a single voice booms from a scaffold above them.

"Did you work with the police chief? If you didn't, you might want to try that next."

This scene unfolded -- not in a dusty combat theater -- but in the green wilderness of the North Central West-Virginian mountains aboard Camp Dawson, W.Va.  

There, members of Company B., 4th Law Enforcement Battalion, Force Headquarters Group, Marine Forces Reserve,   based in North Versailles, Pa., engaged in a two-week field training course, June 17-28. The course featured role players and realistic, scenario-based training designed to not only sharpen their skills as military law enforcement personnel, but to test their ability to mentor host nation police forces in preparation for an upcoming deployment.

"The greatest thing is that the Marines are being challenged and exposed to new ideas, new information and new ways of thinking," said Gunnery Sgt. Matt Dixon, the chief investigator with 4th LEB and one of the instructors assigned to the training. "These Marines are enthusiastic; they want to deploy and they want to learn, so they can go forward and perform operations in support of the Marine Corps mission."

For the Marines of 4th LEB, that mission has not only changed, but is critical to the long-term success of Operation Enduring Freedom, said Dixon. The old "MP" moniker has become a thing of the past, replaced with the new law enforcement title that features new mission-essential tasks that include policing operations, law enforcement, enemy prisoner-of-war detainee handling and host nation law enforcement advising.

The new structure and increased capability of the battalions comes at a critical time in Afghanistan, as the United States continues to draw down troops, increasing the burden on the local national legal system, said Dixon.

"It's a unique capability and a unique time to put this together," said Dixon. "A lot of times, sustainment operations are an afterthought. After the fact, everyone wants to rush in and do it, but it's not coordinated. That's what we're here for, to work together, develop that bond and give that infantry battalion commander a one-stop shop for law enforcement capabilities."

In the past, the role of sustaining and advising a local police force and legal system has fallen on the shoulders of infantry and artillery Marines – everyone except military police, said Maj. Jake Griffith, commanding officer of Company B., 4th LEB.

"That's what law enforcement battalions do," said Griffith. "We're training toward taking a lead role in that. We're the experts in building security forces and police, and helping host nations rebuild their legal system after it's been wiped out in combat."

Mark Gordon, a retired Marine and lead instructor for the Host Nation Police Advising Course, Homeland Securities Division, Inc., who assumed a lead role in the realistic training environment at Camp Dawson, said the Marines of 4th LEB are key to mission success.

"We have done a whole lot of work in previous years and in past conflicts, and have not tied this law enforcement piece in with it," said Gordon. "Our Marines doing this right now are the critical piece for the success of this mission. By their actions and their ability, if they can train the Afghan police officers and advise our Afghan brothers and sisters to do their job well, that new law enforcement network will be the critical piece to the country standing on its own."

The role of an LEB as a host nation advisor is indispensable to future success, not only in Afghanistan, but going forward in other hotspots and war-torn nations across the globe, said Dixon.

"Host nation advising can be a fight anywhere – Africa, Southeast Asia – countries teetering on stability," said Dixon. "But, if we can go in and provide that mentorship and experience from our level and build those relationships with other countries, they won't go over the edge and go into chaos."

More than that, Gordon warns that learning to advise the local police, rather than take the lead on policing actions in Afghanistan, is the only way we can truly cement what countless lives and trillions of dollars have earned over the past decade.

"The more we do, the longer we stay," said Gordon. "That's the key for this class. We have 19- and 20-year-old young men and women who are out there implementing strategic U.S. policy, and it's critical to our success in Afghanistan. If the police fail, we fail."

For the Marines of 4th LEB, the tough lessons learned at the hands of role players here will save lives in pursuit of a critical mission in Afghanistan. Even though spending two weeks in the heat and rain is not ideal, the Marines are aware that each minute spent training is one less they'll spend wondering if they could've done more.

"It's worth it," said Cpl. Justin Wyszkowski, a squad leader with first platoon, Co B., 4th LEB.  "It's absolutely worth it. We've all lost brothers over there and for them not to have died in vain, we have to keep training."