At the start of 2000 the 720th MP Battalion was headquartered subordinate to the 89th MP Brigade at Fort Hood, Texas.

~ March ~

19 March, Fort Hood The 401st MP Company and an attached platoon from the 410th MP Company were assigned in support of the Office of the Special Counsel's, United States Department of Justice, Forward Looking Infrared RADAR (FLIR) Test for the reenactment of the 19 April 1993 FBI raid at Waco, Texas.

The raid was the conclusion to the fifty-one day standoff that resulted in the deaths of 75 people at the Branch Dividian Compound, Mount Carlmel, Waco, Texas. The test was ordered by Judge Walter S. Smith of the U.S. District Court. The exercise area was set up to represent the Dividian’s compound and held in a remote location on Fort Hood, Killeen, Texas. Representatives from the U.S. Justice department and attorneys representing the Branch Dividian’s were present to witness the reenactment. The exercise group composed of United Kingdom military and FBI FLIR equipped aircraft, combat outfitted and armed U.S. Postal Inspector’s, U.S. soldiers, and armored vehicles, conducted a live fire exercise to simulate the FBI raid at the Branch Dividian compound. The court ordered enactment was to recreate the scene just before the tank rammed the Dividian’s main compound building so it could be filmed on aerial infrared surveillance cameras.

The reenactment film was compared against the film taken by the FBI the day of the incident to test its accuracy.

Photographs, personal stories, of the Waco enactment from members of the Battalion, regardless of MOS, please contact the History Project Manager via the Email Link at the top of this page.

~ October ~

15 October, Operation Phantom Lifeline, 2000 The 410th MP Company was assigned to support Operation Phantom Lifeline 2000. The operation was conducted at several sites across Texas but centered at Camp Bullis, near San Antonio. The 13th Corps Support Command (COSCOM) troops deployed for two weeks in one of the largest peacetime operations the unit has ever conducted. Operations at the Texas ports of Corpus Christi and Beaumont replicated the actual stages of deployment by sea for the COSCOM, and Camp Bullis represented their destination.

Photographs, personal stories, of Operation Phantom Lifeline from members of the Battalion, regardless of MOS, please contact the History Project Manager via the Email Link at the top of this page.