Photo By Spc. Brandi Frizzell | Media Personnel from KCEN Channel 6 News receive their media credentials from Spc....... read more read more
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Gunfire sounded through the air while media personnel from KCEN Channel 6 News, based in Central Texas, attended the Law Enforcement Weapons Training and Qualification, or LEWTAQ, with the Law Enforcement Activity, III Armored Corps, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, at the Cowhouse Law Enforcement Complex Jan. 29, 2025 on Fort Cavazos, Texas.
The LEA conducts everyday patrols, police investigations, traffic investigations and works with civil police liaisons.
Cpt. Sabrina Mortell, the company commander for the LEA, stated their primary mission is to, “provide professional policing to Fort Cavazos.”
U.S. Army Military Police Soldiers are required to qualify on both the M4 carbine and the M17 pistol as part of their training.
“This is training that we normally run quarterly to ensure that not only are we qualifying, but we also have the time to provide that additional training to improve within our formation,” Mortell stated.
She went on to describe how training on these weapon systems ensures the safety of others.
“We still train on everything that we are carrying onto the road to ensure that not only are we being safe, but we can help others be safe as well. Us being certified per regulation and standard enables us to enforce the regulations within the installation and help provide a safe community for them,” Mortell said.
Mortell explained how qualifying with these weapon systems will have future benefits for the installation.
“Being able to really hone in and focus on one quality of our MOS is something that’s going to pay dividends for the installation,” she stated.
Micah Wilson, an anchor for KCEN Channel 6 News, observed the skills the Military Police Soldiers used while conducting weapons training and qualification.
“It’s interesting to see how people are so skilled at their aim, their instincts and agility to be able to do this, and be able to do this no matter what environment is really amazing,” Wilson said.
Wilson explained that seeing the training and qualification event at Fort Cavazos will help the media share what happens on base with the local community.
“A lot of people know people who work here, but don’t know what goes on so we wanted to see it for ourselves and then be able to showcase it to other people. I think it will give them more perspective for what happens here,” he stated.
Not only did media personnel attend the range qualification, but they also visited the 226th Military Police Detachment, 720th Military Police Battalion, 89th Military Police Brigade, also known as the Military Working Dog Detachment, on Fort Cavazos to observe Soldiers and their dogs while conducting training.
The military working dogs are essential to military operations and ensure the safety and security of Soldiers, especially while deployed. They are trained for explosive and narcotic detection and can also search for people.
Sgt. Samantha Wendt, a team leader and explosive dog handler with the 226th MP Det., described how the dogs are trained to patrol the road and for deployment.
“Some of our dogs need to deploy. We train them to deploy. We train them to work the road. We also train with gunfire because we want our dogs to be completely neutral to gunfire,” Wendt stated.
Wendt continued to explain how the dogs spend extended amounts of time training with their handlers.
“We spend pretty much all the time with them that we can. We come in on weekends. We come in on early mornings. We stay late just to train with them,” Wendt said.
The majority of the training consists of obedience training, detection, and control. During obedience training, the dogs are trained to go through an obstacle course which consists of tunnels, stairs, and other obstacles. This training helps ensure the dogs can acclimate to various environments.
Detection training consists of setting up lanes for the dogs to execute. They incorporate vehicles and buildings to create varied training scenarios for the dogs to search for specific targets. Another aspect the dogs are taught is control regression, where they are trained on bite scenarios and standoffs.
“Standoffs occur when the dog stops in the middle of a bite,” Wendt explained.
Wendt’s motivation to conduct dog training is what has inspired her to do her job for the last five years. She described how diligently training with her Military Working Dog (MWD) Szafi, gives her a sense of purpose.
“I have a reason to wake up every morning. I have a dog that if I don’t wake up, she doesn’t get trained. It makes me happy to see her happy working,” Wendt stated.
Rocky Bridges, the Chief Photojournalist for KCEN Channel 6 News, viewed the MWD training and discussed how important it was to share the Army’s story with the community.
“We’re here to give information and to educate, and that helps our community. That’s what we try to do as a station, in helping understand what the Army does, and how important it is to the whole area,” Rocky said.
The Central Texas media personnel left Fort Cavazos with new insight about the U.S. Army, military police Soldiers and stories to share with the local community.
| Date Taken: | 01.31.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.06.2025 14:22 |
| Story ID: | 489940 |
| Location: | FORT CAVAZOS, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 152 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Media Personnel Observe Military Police Events on Fort Cavazos, by SPC Brandi Frizzell, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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