My youngest boy is wanting to be a Miltary Police.
Military police
I would ask him Why he wants’ to be an MP.
If he wants to do some law enforcement but also want's to be hooah and spend a lot of
time in the field, he should go Army
If he wants to do garrison security / Law enforcement mostly he should look at the other branches. I would
put the Air Force at the top of the Non Army heap.
If he wants to go into law enforcement after the military, what department does he want to be part of? If he doesn’t care many states transfer military police credentials so he could walk on at a department others have a reduced academy for former MPs, and
some give no advantage to MPs over other vets.
He should just keep this in mind.
Many of my former MP soldiers are currently in Law enforcement in
locations all across the US for all levels of government.
Now come on Bill. Let's frame this with some rational input for this gentleman to assist his son in a very important decision. I will begin by saying I don't suggest he become an MP because I am an MP. On the same note, I don't subscribe to your comments either. Especially since he is considering joining the Active Army. The MP Corps is huge. Jobs and assignments are varied. Yes. the last 12-13 years have been Combat Support focused. However, there are thousands of MP Soldiers: PVT-SPC, SGT-SSG, and SFC that have done a healthy share of Law and Order as well. The DA Police have been cut back drastically and the focus of the MP Corps is refining and bettering our Law and Order mission. The good Major's points are relevant. The Air Force has two main specialties in their Security Forces: Guarding the Aircraft and the Flight Line, and Law and Order. They focus extensively on both very well. Times are changing, More MPs are in the US now then ever before, and it will continue to be as such for some time. Our Corps will also shrink in size considerably, in the near future, requiring more from our Warrior Police than ever before.
I'm glad to see you are still in the Game Bill, give my best to your family.
MSG H,
I am glad someone other than myself replied to MSG Kepler, as a 27 year MP retiree, I took great offense to the post of what MPs do and don't do, I had many years on the road before I started expanding my knowledge and future assets for after military life.
I also have seen the DACP members have more LE duties taken away from them and given back to the MPs, 1 due to cutbacks, and 2 due to continued problems with many of the officers within the force as well. I know we will never dispose of them completely as we need someone to man the stations and the gates if we have to deploy Soldiers to other areas, but I personally felt they were given to many responsibilities and freedom to be the installations police forces, I have seen more problems with DACP officers on a few posts from 2006-2010 than I did during the previous 20 years from any garrison MPs, so I would not lose any sleep if they cut them out of the loop other than station duties in the next few years.
I appreciate you defending the Corps as you did, I will be an MP till I die, even with civilian LE experience, I will always have that spot in my head and heart for my MP Corps background. And many departments and organizations do recognize MPs, I was 1st accepted into the FOP as an MP, and when I moved to a new state after retiring, the lodge I was referred to had many retired MPs within its membership, so there are many police related organizations that also recognize MPs over any other military branch LEs. We are the ones that match the civilian LE forces more than any other, so that would explain why we are also recognized by those agencies as well.
Andrew,
To be honest I loved my job and the years I invested into it, but if I had known 30 years ago what I know now, I would have chosen the AF SPs over Army MPs. The Army affords you many more schools than the other branches that can be beneficial to the post-military career in LE, but the politics of the Army is sometimes less appealing than the other services.
Make sure he looks at and you discuss with him the whole picture of what he could expect to deal with, one thing I learned even more the second half of my career over anything else is the political agenda overrides the legal aspect of what is taking place more than anything else.
I wish him luck in which ever he chooses, and if he is looking for some viable advice for other options to ask the recruiter for within his contract, send him my info as well and I will do my best to assist in any way I can.
One last thing, contrary to some of the comments posted, many smaller agencies prefer military personnel with LE background than just standard military experience, while they look for the discipline and integrity/values of former military members, the LE aspect is easier to train and quicker comprehension of the rules and guidelines that are taught within the academies or local departments. The larger departments (Metro areas and state agencies) do look for any military experience and having LE is not always the advantage there.
I almost forgot about the transferability that MAJ Miller mentioned, and example is Texas, they have a packet for former MPs, not just military LE, but specifically MPs that allows for the acceptance of the training and schools that MPs have attended to count for the academy time, and once the state accepts you, there is a test called the TCLOSE which is required for all LE in the state of Texas to pass to be hired by any department academy graduate or not. If he does go the MP route and then applies via Texas all he would have to do is file the paperwork request, take the test ($150 fee) and get hired by any department within the state and no academy necessary, probably the easiest way for an MP to transition right back into LE once they leave the Army.
Quick ups to MAJ Miller for triggering my memory on that one.
My son recently enlisted (basic is scheduled for August 2014) and he had no idea what he wanted to do. I pointed him into a few different directions, each of which, if he was successful, would lead to great training in a post-military career in a fast-growing industry.
He wanted to go special forces sniper (plays a lot of Call of Duty), but we (yes, we) settled on 25B with airborne. This will give him the opportunity to go to a "high-speed" unit (airborne or special forces group) and have a 'career' to fall back on. Also, once he does a couple years in his MOS, I'll point him in the right direction towards Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS) and can pursue that avenue.
I'll always look toward his future, even though they are more 'in the moment'.
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google