Salute To The 720th MP Battalion and 401st MP Company
Operation Iraqi Freedom-I
My name is MAJ Marc C. Blair. I am currently the Deputy Provost Marshal of the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia. I assumed command of the 401st MP Company in Fort Hood, Texas in mid 2002. My First Sergeant was 1SG Ronnie Phillips who is now retired. I could not have asked for a better First Sergeant. We trained the company for and deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom-I in March of 2003.
1st Platoon, 1LT James Bishop, SFC Anthony Pierre, 2nd Platoon, 1LT Roscoe Woods, SSG Rocknee Gardner, 3rd Platoon, 1LT Amanda Dorsey, SFC Derek Smith, 4th Platoon, 2LT Alexis Marks, SFC Franklin Blanche, HQ Platoon, SSG Joseph Treer, Operations Sergeants, MSG Lonnie Crook and MSG Robert Campbell. Mess Sergeant, SFC Roger Schoen (the Best Cook the Army ever produced, just ask the 401st, LTC David Poirier, the Battalion Commander, CSM William Generali, and soon-to-be Brigadier General David Phillips, the former 89th MP Brigade Commander, They'll tell you.)
Not long thereafter, the 401st, along with the rest of the 720th MP Battalion, crossed the berm into Iraq from Kuwait and immediately began conducting combat operations in support of the 3rd Infantry Division and V Corps as we pushed into Baghdad during the conventional war. In early May 2003, the 401st, along with the 720th, became part of Taskforce Ironhorse (4th Infantry Division) in Tikrit. We were based out of this area through the duration of Operation Iraqi Freedom-I.
The 401st MP Company Headquarters was located in FOB Gunfighter comprised of two large fortified houses in a southern suburb of Tikrit. The 1st Platoon under 1LT Bishop and SFC Pierre was initially co-located with the company HQs after they completed a roughly 5 week mission in Baghdad. They were later relocated to Camp Speicher, an airfield in north Tikrit. The 2nd Platoon under 1LT Woods and SSG Gardner and 3rd Platoon under 1LT Amanda Dorsey and SFC Smith were co-located with 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry (Mechanized) in a former Iraqi palace on FOB Ironhorse in Tikrit. The 4th Platoon under 2LT Marks and SFC Blanche spent many months in Samarra under the task organization of 1st Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment. The 4th Platoon later co-located with the company headquarters in Tikrit. In late September 2003, the 401st was ordered moved to FOB Ironhorse. During my tenure in command, the 401st MP Company from squad to company level conducted countless combat operations which included raids, cordon and searches, Main Supply Route (MSR) Patrols, checkpoint operations, etc. Additionally, we were integral with the rest of the 720th MP Battalion in reestablishing a then defunct and corrupt police force, training them, and making them more effective than they had ever previously been. The company was subject to never ending enemy insurgent contact in the form of direct gunfire, RPGs, mortar fire, and IEDs.
I commanded the 401st for the majority of Operation Iraqi Freedom-I and relinquished command to CPT Jennifer Knight on 15 November 2003 in a ceremony in front of a bombed out palace formerly owned by Saddam Hussein on FOB Ironhorse in Tikrit, Iraq. After she took command, the 401st under CPT Knight continued to be very successful when they were given the mission to move to Samarra in order to clean up the mess that it was.
Our Battalion Commander, LTC David Poirier, was bar none the best commander I've seen in 14 years of service. He set the perfect command climate which facilitated the 720th's excellence in Operation Iraqi Freedom-I. I greatly respect and fully understand his decision to retire but it was an immeasurable loss to the Army.
The Soldiers of the 401st MP Company gave their all throughout Operation Iraqi Freedom-I. The 4th Platoon had it particularly hard in Samarra while they were with the 1st Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment, the unit which had the overall responsibility of Samarra. The 2nd Platoon lost PFC Jesse Halling in the early morning hours of 7 June 2003 in a fire fight in Tikrit. After official notification had been made, contacting his mother and father in Indianapolis via satellite phone and explaining the circumstances of their son's death was the hardest thing I have done thus far in this life.
On 16 March 2005, The 401st was awarded the Valorous Unit Award "for extraordinary heroism in military operations against an armed enemy," for the time period 15 April 2003 to 5 November 2003 which was the majority of Operation Iraqi Freedom-I. Having seen and commanded these great troops, they deserve every bit of the recognition of the Valorous Unit Award. God bless them all.
Very Respectfully,
Major Marc C. Blair, MPC |