Army Patrols Columbus Georgia
Nah, it’s not the imposition of martial law… it’s something else?
Military patrols start Friday night in downtown Columbus
Starting at 10 o’clock Friday, two senior non-commissioned officers from Fort Benning will be on courtesy patrol. The soldiers will be wearing arm bands that read, “Courtesy Patrol.”
Okay whatever happened to the MPs? Or in my case the Shore Patrol?
Does Fort Benning not have an MP contingent working with local law enforcement?
I’m sorry, the concept of a Courtesy Patrol seems strange to me. Or maybe silly? Doesn’t it evoke odd images for anyone else? If I saw the Shore Patrol striding purposefully in my direction I’d be concerned… The Courtesy Patrol, not so much.
[Edit to add] A coupla comments have pointed out the Courtesy Patrol is a good thing. Reckon my inner geezer is showing some, but I STILL think it sounds odd.
Category: Military issues, Pointless blather
I was always grateful for CPs. If they were doing their job right, they’d be stuffing my drunken troops into the van and bringing them back to the barracks before the MPs got them – saving me some unneeded headaches on Monday morning, standing in front of the BC explaining why they’d been in fights.
I can’t count how many times I’d seen troops scuffling in the streets and I’d pack them up still swinging and turn them over to their CQ so the company can deal with them.
In fact, I thought CPs were such a good idea, I used to troll the bars in the “Iron Triangle” in Aschaffenburg for my own soldiers and take them to the barracks before they got in trouble after one of my squad leaders beat a guy with his crutch and the BC demanded to know why my squad leader was drunk and beating people while on crutches.
Not only is a courtesy patrol a good way to keep a minor problem from escalating to the point that it gets noticed way up the chain of command as John has pointed out, but I also doubt that the MPs have jurisdiction in downtown Columbus. It’s also the case that police can only be reactionary. I’d bet local bar owners don’t want to be filing police reports any more than senior NCOs want to be responding to them. Having somebody making the rounds who can keep property from being damaged and business from being lost is probably a much more appealing alternative than trying to get soldiers to pay for their share of the loss after the fact.
We had courtesy patrols in Korea, if they found you in a off limits area, they wrote a deficiency report that went to your command, if you were really shit faced or rowdy they called the MP’s who escorted you to the Gray Bar Hotel to await pick up by your chain of command. Didn’t really stop us from being kids and blowing off steam though, it just let it be handled at the company/battery level rather than going on the MP blotter report.
I remember Courtesy Patrols in Lawton and thought it not to bad an Idea(Unless you got the Duty).
I know that Fort Richardson does something like that too. Too many people drive drunk in Alaska. I think the sign at the front gate is showing at least 50 reported DUIs on post for this year. I know when I was there our unit was reported to have the highest percent of DUIs on post. So seeing this again is not that shocking.
I concur, Courtesy Patrol’s are an excellent discouragement for misconduct off base. Always better for an NCO, Senior NCO or junior grade officer to be on scene. Troops tend to obey a direct order from any of them verse’s MP’s…
Street, I disagree about “junior officer” part of your comment. It’s been my experience they’re of two minds; “throw ’em all in jail” or “leave ’em alone until they figure out their problems”.
If you can find an officer who is content to just stand there quietly and carry the shiniest rank in the crowd, that’d be fine, but somehow it never works out that way.
I never pulled CP with COB6, so obviously, he’s exempted from the previous characterizations. I tend to think he might have fit the third category.
I exited the military after eight years of service and started with a police department whose jurisdiction abutted that of a large naval base. The bars and strip joints just off base were wide open then. I can’t remember how many times we would have to wade in to the brawls with metal flashlights bouncing off of military skulls. Since most of the officers in that area were former military we rarely arrested. Once the fights were quieted we usually just called shore patrol to give ’em a ride back to the pier.
Nowadays these newer officers, most with no military background, will haul a service member off to jail for minor BS.
If the base doesn’t do it, the unit should do it. Nothing quite like getting one’s tuckus hauled before the colonel just before Sunday services to explain why I allowed a SPC who lived off post to get into a bar fight with a marine and then tossed into the drunk tank.
15/15 if he won the fight. Recommended Field Grade with 45/45 if he lost.
I was an MP in Aschaffenburg, way back when. The CP was great, and probably a career saver for a lot of troops.
Don’t remember if 3d ID had them in the other towns, Kitzingen, Wurzburg, Schweinfurt, and of course, Wildflecken.
I recall sending lots of troops back to their barracks, rather than taking them to the MP station, or letting them deal with the German Polizei, just less paper work, and it never hurt to get some good PR with the troops.
We had MP/CP patrols in Baumholder back in the day. They kept a lot of 8th Infantry Divarty outta the German klink.