Photo By Staff Sgt. Victor Joecks | Staff Sgt. Garrison Paine (left) and Spc. Nick Ferriolo, both military police with the...... read more read more
LAS VEGAS — New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas is known for celebrations, tourists and fireworks. For more than 65 members of the Nevada National Guard, though, it’s known for something else — a unique training opportunity.
For the 14th consecutive year, Nevada National Guard Soldiers and Airmen have used the nation’s second largest New Year’s Eve celebration as a chance to practice patrolling and guarding critical infrastructure. Units from both the Army and Air Guard provided support for the New Year’s Eve mission, called Operation Vigilant Sentinel. This year, Southern Nevada units took the lead during the exercise that ran from December 30 to January 1.
Participating units included the 72nd Military Police Company, 137th Military Police Detachment, 17th Sustainment Brigade, 1-221st Armored Reconnaissance Squadron, the 92nd Civil Support Team and the 152nd Airlift Wing.
For military police, like Staff Sgt. Travis Miller, a MP with the 72nd, Operation Vigilant Sentinel 2014 provides the year’s best chance to hone patrolling skills and practice standing guard.
“It actually gives us a public to interact with,” said Miller. “It’s something we can’t do at the armory, because most of the military members know what’s going on.
“This gives us more a real-world experience.”
Miller and most of the servicemembers participating in VS2014 had tens of thousands of members of the public to interact with, because they were stationed at busy McCarran airport during the holiday.
Working 12-hour shifts, teams of MPs patrolled throughout the airport, including in the baggage claim and ticketing areas of both Terminals 1 and 3.
One MP team, composed of SFC Nicolas Allred, NCOIC of the airport day shift, and PFC Emelia Lopez, desk clerk for the 137th, walked 13.2 miles during one of their shifts. Working with an experienced MP gave Lopez a chance to acquire boots-on-the-ground wisdom during their 25,707 steps.
“I’ve learned that no matter what conversations you’re having, you have to keep the mission first,” said Lopez. “He’s teaching me how to have a balance between getting your mission done and having conversations.
The airport training also provided an added challenge.
“It’s more demanding physically compared to what we did at AT (annual training) where we had the luxury of sitting in a vehicle,” said Lopez. “You have to be more alert, because you’re not in a vehicle.”
Operation Vigilant Sentinel began after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, in New York City and Washington, D.C. and was intended to provide additional security for New Year’s Eve revelers in Las Vegas.
While the exercise is no longer conducted because of a specific threat or incident, it is a valuable chance to work in association with local law enforcement agencies. While Guard Soldiers didn’t have arrest authority, they were additional observers for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, according to Metro patrol supervisor Sgt. Tim Barker.
“The National Guard are our extra eyes and ears,” said Barker. “They provide a presence and comfort for passengers traveling though the airport.”
One thing patrolling Soldiers noticed was a black suitcase stuffed awkwardly in a garbage bin, which they identified as a suspicious object. The MPs immediately alerted Metro officers, who later determined that the suitcase was just a suitcase.
While the incident was minor, it was unexpected, and it provided a real-life example of why MPs must remain on constant alert. This was just one of the many times Soldiers and Metro officers worked with each other during the training exercise.
Staff Sgt. Garrison Paine, a Military Policeman with the 72nd, thought that interaction with civilian law enforcement was valuable for the Soldiers in his unit.
“As an MP, it’s useful working with other agencies, because come a natural disaster or riot, we’ll be used to working with them,” said Paine.
Metro’s “the subject matter experts (on policing). They do it 24/7. They’re just going to make us better.”
| Date Taken: | 12.31.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 01.01.2015 17:12 |
| Story ID: | 151301 |
| Location: | LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, US |
| Web Views: | 181 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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