I am thinking about joining the army in 1-2 years. Military Police would be my second choice. What is an average day like for an active duty soldier? Are you stationed in country or overseas, and do you have a choice whether you want to be or not. Thanks

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When I was at Ft Hood around the 1997-2000 timeframe we worked pretty much like this. 1 month of road duty doing the stuff that you join the army to do as an MP like writing tickets, going to domestics, dealing with problem people and all the other fun stuff. That is the stuff the recruiters drill into your head that an MP does.

After that one month we spent the next two months training both in and out of the field. That is when we went to our ranges to qualify on our weapons, did our PT tests, did lots and lots of weapon maintenance and other fun and not so fun stuff.

In the field (the part I enjoyed most) we conducted route recons, patrols of main supply routes, Enemy Prisoner of War handling, security of bases, set up ambushes, cleared buildings and cities, worked with other branches to transport prisoners using armored vehicles, and other stuff that would lead you to believe that we are mainly just some other form of mounted infantry.


An MP also has the chance to do SRT..kinda like the Army's version of SWAT, K9, MPI (a lower level investigator than CID), CID (kinda like the Army's FBI), Traffic Accident Investigator (pretty much a full time road cop), DST (Drug supression team which works with CID to help catch those selling drugs) and other fun stuff.

If you are not in the Army this will not make much sense to you because it has a lot of acronyms, but check out FM 3-19.4 Do a search on google for it, it is the "MPs Bible" when it comes to field stuff. Oh, and check out the Infantry manuals also like 7-7 I think..

If you are thinking of joining the MP Corp to be a cop, well you might want to rethink your decision. I am not saying you won't ever get to do law enforcement. But, they are slowly, but surely eliminating that from the MP Corp. They are starting to change over to the DOD (Department of Defense) police. Which means a bunch of civilian cops will do all the law enforcement. Currently at a few bases they are changing over already, if not already have. So, expect within the next few years if not sooner, law enforcement for Military Police will be almost non existent. But you have to also remeber, being an MP is a good thing in many ways, and has it's flaws in other ways. I think it is like every other job in the Army, whatever you do you will find something about it you hate.

I think if you asked any MP right now in Iraq or a combat support unit unless they were full on lifers they would tell you to look at a different mos to many new soldiers are being told that they are going to be cops by recruiters its killing me and the mp corps, reason being is when they find out what thier real job is (area security, convoy security, detainee guard) MPI and CID do not come around enough. MP's do, just as much as your typical infantry unit. Ask more questions before you become an MP because MP NCO's such as myself don't need more broken hearted privates.

shanem hit it on the money.
MP = infantry with a bazare on arm and 9 mil.

I say if you want to be an mp, just listen to what the last few posts have said. Don't join the army to be an mp just to be an MP or a "cop" if that's what you like. Join because you are ready to deploy constantly and take care of other soldiers as well as eliminating enemy threats. To add to what was previously stated. In my eight years of service total, I have written very few tickets to soldiers. They really had to mess up for me to write a ticket instead of letting their NCO support channel take care of it. I have never apprehended a soldier for stuff that their unit could take care of. Too many people join and want to be cops, write tickets, put handcuffs on people, and oh yeah, drive faster than the speed limit with their pretty red and blues on. When I first joined we used to say, " of the troops, and for the troops", it has kind of diminished to local unit sayings now, but that's what an MP is. If you want to be able to fight with your combat arms buddies on the battle field, provide security for those left on the base while their family members are deployed or in the field, go to places like honduras for humanitarian missions, or bosnia and kosovo for general peace keeping operations, and be ready to support any kind of other unit, no matter when or where, no questions asked, just because they need it, then become an MP. If not, choose an MOS that has a specific task. Because it's important that you like what you are doing so that you excel, and shanem doesn't get any more broken hearted privates. And neither do the rest of us.

I have to agree with what was said in this topic. Being an MP is a tough job and not necessarily the type of job that the recruiter tells you that it is. I arrived at Fort Hood many moons ago expecting to be thrown into a cop car and chasing the bad guys. What I found was a unit that had returned from the field the day I arrived and I was learning alongside some stinky, worn out, just wanting to get some real food in their belly troops.

The next week, our company recovered our equipment again, preparing to go to the field as OPFOR. (OPFOR is pretty much the bad guys for when someone else is doing their training in the field).

I was luck though, we had our share of time on the road, but it got old after a while. I have been to a couple other duty stations after Hood, and wouldn't you know, I reenlisted to go back. Does that mean that I love the area? Not really, it really came down to the type of work and the satisfaction with knowing that when we did something there in the field, we saw results.

If you are joining to be an MP or have joined to be an MP, read the news. Do a search on google for Military Police in Iraq. You are not going to find any articles on the number of speeders they have caught, how many drunk drivers were apprehended, or how many times they have had to go to a domestic dispute. They are kicking down doors, searching for IEDs and providing security for convoys.

The MP Corps, love it or leave it. Don't come crying to me or the posters above when you are spending more time in a HMMWV than a police car, because those that have reenlisted as an MP and many of those that have not reenlisted yet as an MP love what they do and don't want, as someone mentioned above, "a broken hearted private" whining and complaining about not getting to do what their recruiter told them they would be doing. You wouldn't buy a car or a house without seeing it first, do the same with your job choice in the Army and look around for accurate information about what you WILL be doing, not what you SHOULD PROBABLY be doing.

Hey I have been here in Iraq for over 8 months and in the Army 2 years and your day will vary greatly, especially on your unit.

But what you have read is all true. MP's is more of the defensive side on the battlefield - we go help and provide security, etc., if you want to get more offensive join the Infantry, you'll be right there on the front lines as well doing the QRF (Quick Reaction Force) missions. Don't expect to be a cop right away either in the garrison environment. There are also the worse jobs such as SCIF MP's who sit at a top secret facility monitoring badges all day. Also in Iraq and in the garrison you may get selected to do PSD which is pretty much like a General/CSM/VIP's Bodyguard. Sometimes you get lucky and roll around in civilian clothes, etc. but usually its long hours and hard work.

Being an MP is certainly a tough job. Think about it... you usually work shift work and you end up doing PT during the beginning or end of your shirt.... you work holidays, weekends, long weekend's... hardly ever is it a 9-5 job. Hey I'm not telling you to NOT join the MP Corps. I am just saying it takes a lot of hard work.

On the bright side you normally get all the cool toy's, M4's (with all the toys), 9mm, MK19, 50cals, Uparmored humvees which you normally do all the work on your own with your team. My unit's trucks is equipped with a Blueforce tracker/GPS (Basically a GPS and a computer screen showing you the route on a map, etc.) for the TC and CVC helmets for all MP's. CVC Helmets are the ones that the tankers use. It's your basic kevlar helmet with built in headphones and a microphone so you can communicate amongst your fellow MPs in the truck and across the Net. Sometimes you sleep in your trucks, sometimes you sleep in a cot, othertimes you do not know where you are sleeping or for how long you will be out...

Anyways, I'm getting off track here.... so let me go now.

Good luck in your decision! 8)

From reading the posts above I have to agree. Having reclassed 2 years ago to MP I have done some of the weirdest jobs/missions you can imagine. I remember one year MP's here got called to go to a house to "scare away the aliens" that were reported.... and trust me I wish I were bs'ing.

I have to agree with all of the above posts. I have been an MP for a fair amount of time. MPs are a catch all MOS. We handle do many jobs that other units do not because of our unique makeup. The truth of the matter is that recruiters may not know what the day to day mission of a MP is because a fair amount have had very little interaction with the MP corps and can only tell you what the text book job description is. Also anyone interested in joining the MP corps should look at the fact that many weekends and holidays will be spent working in one way or another.