Enabling Protection During Crisis

by Lieutenant Colonel Justin D. Roman

Article published on: January 1, 2024 | Military Police, 2024 Edition

Read Time: < 3 mins

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21236/AD1307241

U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) military police formations Assist by mobilizing units to aid in defense support to civil authorities and to help installations maintain law and order. Concurrently, we Protect by mobilizing fully modified table of organization and equipment units to North Atlantic Treaty Organization-affiliated countries to protect our vital national interests and to train with our allies and partners. Lastly, we Defend by providing forces to support combatant commands such as the U.S. Southern Command, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the U.S. European Command, the U.S. Central Command, and the U.S. Africa Command to deter aggression, shape the environment, and provide relief to vulnerable populations. We Assist, Protect, Defend by providing protective-service details around the world, both continuously and on short notice.

Army Doctrine Publication (ADP) 3-37, Protection, directs that “Protection assessments at echelon must reflect continuous and enduring protection activities that are comprehensive, integrated, layered, redundant, and enduring.¹ USAR is integrated into the veins of American society, protecting our networks, commerce, businesses, critical infrastructure processes, and communities on a daily basis. Protection activities that are conducted during peacetime significantly impact the transition into crisis. During a crisis, the first kinetic strikes will likely be against command and control, communication, and logistic nodes in an attempt to hinder our national response to hostilities. These strikes will encompass conventional and unconventional means along the spectrum of crisis to conflict.

The communities outside of Regular Army installations must also perform passive and active antiterrorism/protection activities through vigilance and proactive engagement. Through civilian employment, the USAR population performs community policing, physical security, communications, cybersecurity, and various other activities. Even as they work in their civilian professions, USAR Soldiers embody our motto of Assist, Protect, Defend through conflict.

The 290th Military Police Brigade “Titans,” USAR, Nashville, Tennessee, enable protection during a crisis by providing a robust force of policing and investigative professionals both at home and abroad. The 290th must protect the force and its Families by performing the law-and-order function throughout the spectrum of conflict. Providing law and order; redundant, secure communications; decentralized mission command; and resilient formations will be the key to survival and response in a first-strike crisis.

The Titans actively seek to bridge the gaps between the U.S. Army components while also working together to Assist, Protect, Defend. We are undergoing significant growth by adding allied partners to our training events and planning conferences in order to share knowledge and lessons learned and to understand the differences in our formation structures and capabilities. Allied participants are increasing interoperability and strengthening the bonds that we need to effictively Assist, Protect, Defend together in crisis. These events and conferences demonstrate the significance of collective, joint, and combined activities to identify challenges and solutions.

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