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Fort McCoy Directorate of Emergency Services Police Department personnel held a five-day, 40-hour augmented standby force training in early April for 24 service members at the installation.
“The training is for borrowed military manpower (BMM) to be used as an augmented standby force to cover down on a potential law-enforcement staffing reduction as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Lt. Benjamin Finn with the DES Police Department. “The course of instruction includes classroom and range operations. Topics covered vary from access control point (ACP) procedures, to handcuffing and qualifying with a weapon — a 9mm pistol.”
Classroom training took place in the Wisconsin Military Academy (WMA) at Daly Hall, which was split into separate classrooms.
“We had 24 students assigned, so we placed eight students each in three classrooms,” Finn said. “The size of each classroom is substantial, and we placed students to allow for maximum stand-off with regards to social distancing. The start times, break times, and release times were all staggered between the classes so that we could control minimum traffic in entryways, hallways, and break areas during the course of each day. Janitorial services were provided by the WMA to keep the latrines and classroom areas clean each day, as well.”
The students also received cloth masks while in the training that were provided by USO Wisconsin.
Garrison Commander Col. Hui Chae Kim was on hand to provide opening remarks for the training, thanking all who were participating to help DES.
“The remarks reinforced the importance of the training along with the need to maintain vigilance with respect to our fight against the virus,” Finn said. “The garrison commander especially reminded everyone that we were all pitching in to protect the post in these crazy times.”
All training is coordinated by DES Police Department instructors, Finn said.
“This is material they are well-versed in, albeit in a different venue and target audience,” Finn said. “The training is a modified version of what they would normally offer and is aimed at an individual who is being assigned solely to ACP duties. Fort McCoy does not anticipate the need for these Soldiers, but is merely building the bench for any contingencies as we attempt to project our staffing needs in a forward-leaning direction.”
Finn said most of the students come from units aligned with the 181st Multi-Functional Training Brigade, and the DES Police Department and installation community worked together to make it all happen.
“The entire garrison really came together on this, and it is heartening to see our community rally around each other in a time, more than most, when we rely on self-sustainment,” Finn said.
Since the start of the installation’s response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, members of the DES Police Department have been at the forefront of maintaining installation security and doing their part to prevent the spread of the virus.
“In my opinion, the DES, as a whole, is operating exceptionally well as a team in conjunction with the 181st to ensure the continued success of the mission, which is to provide security and law enforcement to the installation,” said Fort McCoy Police Chief Brian Bomstein with DES.
See the latest Fort McCoy information online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
(Article prepared by the Fort McCoy Directorate of Emergency Services and the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office.)
| Date Taken: | 04.15.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 04.15.2020 16:18 |
| Story ID: | 367485 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 148 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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