720th
February 2007 Battalion Time Line
~ 720th Military Police Battalion Reunion Association History Project ~
89th Bde.
This Page Last Updated ~ 6 October 2008
 
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HHD

21 February, Fort Hood, Texas The 720th Military Police Battalion, Headquarters Detachment (Vanguard), held its casing ceremony at Gauntlet Field, Fort Hood, Texas in preparation for the battalion’s third deployment to Baghdad. The primary mission of the detachment is the training of civil Iraqi Police forces. Under a program initiated by LTC Frank Y. Rangle, Jt. (Battalion Commander) and provided with the assistance of the Killeen and Copas Grove, Texas Police departments, every sergeant and junior officer in the upcoming deployment received two weeks of civilian law enforcement training.
     "We told them (police chiefs) what all we wanted and they came back to us with a package that they wanted to teach us including a ride-along, classroom training, working with drug investigators and in crime scene investigation. The same skills that civilian police have in tracking gangs and drug dealers is the same skill set we can take forward to the Iraqi police. We go over there with the attitude that this works in America and they can modify it. We are now familiar with how to run operations against gangs and how to take evidence and catalogue it and use it against them in court. They have a different culture and a different way of doing things. Our Soldiers are exposed to new experiences and new ideas and they can teach it best to the Iraqi police. That is the nice thing about being commander here, you can give out intent and our commanders can execute better than you expect.”
 

     "The Soldiers of the Gauntlet know that if they send us (to Iraq), perhaps we can lessen the load of those already there and, more importantly, the load of those who will follow." "There is nothing glorious about the blood, sweat and tears we are about to shed but there is the wonderful beauty of watching our team work as a family honoring our nation by performance of duty and coming to tell our kids and perhaps our grandkids about our time in the Gauntlet when it helps to fight the great war on terror.”... LTC Rangle.
 
     “My personal opinion is that this is the premier battalion in the corps, and, if I had selected any battalion in the Army to be the Command Sergeant Major for, this would be it. It is a very proud unit and we have a great reputation. I feel 100 percent confident that our commander has given us the tools and training and things we need and because of our multiple deployments, I feel that we are mentally prepared"... Battalion CSM J. Drew Craig.