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It’s all about training. Training is what prepared them for this day and training is what their mission will be once they get downrange. April 3, the Soldiers of the 212th Military Police were bussed to Ramstein, where they boarded a plane to take them downrange.
“Our mission is to assess and train the Iraqi police force in our area of command. We will train them to be as good as they can be. The better they are, the earlier we will be able to get out of Iraq as a nation. Our job is to make them a success,” said Capt. Jay Cash, the 212th company commander.
What will enable the Soldiers of the 212th MPs to train their counterparts well are the lessons learned during the intense training they have received themselves and from their past experience. While the unit is made up of all new Soldiers and has undergone a lot of changes, they share a wealth of experience.
***image1***“There is a lot of experience here. Most of these Soldiers have already been downrange once or twice with other units,” Captain Cash said.
The 212th MP Company is a subordinate unit of the 18th MP Brigade’s 793rd MP Battalion, which falls under the 21st Theater Sustainment Command headquartered in Kaiserslautern. They returned to Kitzingen from Afghanistan in May 2006, only to be moved to McCulley Barracks, Wachernheim and from there to Wiesbaden Army Airfield. Now, the next time the colors will be uncased will be downrange.
“We started from scratch, but everyone in our chain of command is very aware of that and of the crucial importance of training. They have been extremely supportive and given us every opportunity to get every Soldier in the unit ready. Matter of fact, our deployment was pushed back from January in order for us to complete the training cycle,” said Captain Cash.
It appears to have worked. The Soldiers assembled at the DPC seem at ease, relaxed and very confident. If you overlook the rifles and combat gear, you could almost believe the Soldiers are preparing for yet another training exercise. They all smile a lot, especially when the camera aims their way.
And they express their confidence.
“I am ready to go. This is my first deployment, but I am very confident in my squad and in their ability to do their mission,” said Sgt. James Runner, a squad leader with the 212th.
“It is my first deployment also. We have trained a lot for this and our leaders have been very good. They always pick you up when you are down and take care of you. That’s why I know I can trust them,” said Private 1st Class Cashlee Phillips, a driver with the 212th.
Their commander has another reason to be confident.
“I’ve been the company commander for almost a year now and I know every Soldier in this unit,” Captain Cash said. “I have been selected for the express purpose of getting this unit ready to deploy. And, ready we are.”
