Like most National Guardsmen, the reality of being deployed to a foreign country to oppose a hostile enemy is something that most of the soldiers in the 190th Military Police Company, Georgia Army National Guard, thought couldn't happen. Well, in August 1990, most of us found out that even the impossible - can happen.
I remember receiving a call from newly assigned second lieutenant Jim Johnson shortly after Iraqi forces under Sadam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Johnson called to ask me what I thought our chances were of being called to active duty. Of course I told the young lieutenant that "we never go anywhere!" How wrong I was. It wasn't even a week later when I received word that the 190th Military Police Company would be mobilized.
There was a lot to be done in a very short time. First, the search was made for a qualified officer to command the 190th Military Police Company during the deployment. Unfortunately, Captain Jeffrey Boomershine, who had been assigned to command the unit only a few months earlier, was a transportation officer and not yet qualified for such a task. Several other officers were qualified, but only one officer stepped forward to take the challenge.
The 170th Military Police Battalion Commander, Lieutenant Colonel James A. Bruno, offered First Lieutenant Joseph P. Hoffman the command. Hoffman was familiar with the unit and its men. He had served as a platoon leader and executive officer of the 190th Military Police during previous assignments. He was an officer who believed in getting the job done and that there were no such words as "No" or "Can't". He pushed his officers and soldiers to the limit in order to accomplish a mission, but still held the welfare of his men in the highest regard. He was exactly the type of commander that the soldiers of the 190th Military Police Company would need to get them through the months which were ahead of them and the tasks which they would be expected to perform.
During the next few weeks every task imaginable was performed by the soldiers of the 190th in preparation for the unit's move to its mobilization station at Fort Gordon, Georgia. Equipment was inventoried and inspected, items were requisitioned and packaged for movement, and personnel records were reviewed and updated. Volunteers from the 178th Military Police Company in Monroe, Georgia were accepted into the 190th to fill vacancies left by non-deployable personnel, and promotions were made including the promotion of Hoffman to captain.
Finally the time came for the members of the 190th to bid farewell to family and friends, wives and loved ones. The morning of the 190th's departure from Atlanta was marked by a large gathering of well wishers and supporters; probably the largest such gathering since Atlantans had watched troops march off for World War II. Relatives and patriotic citizens lined the streets and walkways around the Georgia Department of Defense facility in Atlanta, waving flags and banners in support of the National Guardsmen who were departing. It was a heart-filled scene of emotions as a long line of military vehicles moved down the driveway and out the front gate of the facility.
It was 20 September 1990 when the members of the 190th Military Police Company officially entered active military service in the U.S. Army. The ride from Atlanta to Fort Gordon, Georgia was not an unfamiliar one to these soldiers. Yet, this time the ride was filled with the mixed emotions of an uncertain future. By days end, the soldiers of the 190th found themselves housed in military barracks which had not long before been used for new recruits attending the U.S. Army Signal School.
Fort Gordon's active duty residents gave the members of the 190th a warm welcome. For the next month, the soldiers enjoyed road marches, range fire, field training, common task training, physical fitness, Southwest Asia indoctrination, and of course the traditional medical poking, prodding, and sticking which goes along with an overseas deployment. I recall one incident that involved the unit's Mess Sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class Hoyt Crews. Crews was nearing 60 years old and was understandably not too enthusiastic about deploying to Southwest Asia. He had begun his service with the U.S. Army during the Korean War and felt that he had done his duty for God and Country over his last 40 years of service. So, when Crews went through his medical screening he made it a point to show the military doctors every piece of documentation concerning any illness or injury that he had ever suffered. But no matter how hard he tried, it didn't change the outcome of the doctors' evaluation. "You're good to go Sergeant," was the answer Crews received. When he finally left the evaluation area, the unit First Sergeant, Tom Dally spotted him, and asked: "What's wrong SGT Crews?"
Crews responded in a very disappointed tone, "I believe they would have taken a peg legged man today" as he shook his head and continued across the open field toward the barracks.
Toward the end of our stay at Fort Gordon, the unit received various visits from both active Army and National Guard Commanders. One such visit was from the Battalion Commander and Command Sergeants Major of the 716th Military Police Battalion. The 716th Military Police Battalion had become the unit's higher headquarters for the duration of its deployment to Saudi Arabia. This assignment was one of great honor within the Military Police Corps. The 716th Military Police Battalion was the most highly decorated Military Police Battalion in the United States Army. Its history included the famous defense of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, South Vietnam during the 1968 Tet Offensive.
LTC Jean Burleson and CSM Stalter had come to the unit to introduce themselves and visit with the soldiers. Questions and answers were fielded by both men who remained down-to-earth and up front with the soldiers throughout their visit. CSM Stalter epitomized the image of a Command Sergeants Major. He was tall and lean, with a rough sounding voice and a straightforward attitude. He told the Noncommissioned Officers that if they did their jobs, and did them right that the officers wouldn't have any reason to try and assume their responsibilities. He firmly believed that sergeants should do sergeant's business, without excuses, and without reservations. When the visit was over it seemed as if we would be in good hands under their command.
It wasn't long after LTC Burleson and CSM Stalter came to visit that the unit was visited by Major General Joseph W. Griffin, Adjutant General of Georgia and CSM Billy G. Manning, State Command Sergeants Major of the Georgia Army National Guard. Even though it was overcast, and most of us were busy loading the last pieces of equipment in the motor pool, it didn't lesson the importance of their visit. They had come to bid farewell to the members of the 190th Military Police Company as they prepared to leave for the Saudi Arabia. Both General Griffin and CSM Manning made fine speeches to the soldiers before presenting each soldier with a bronze CSM coin. Then Griffin turned to Captain Hoffman and presented him with a new Georgia State Flag for the unit to carry proudly on their deployment to Saudi Arabia. Each soldier shook hands with the visitors and quickly returned to the tasks at hand. Time was getting short and soon we would all have other things on our minds.
Not too many days went by before the members of the 190th Military Police Co found themselves landing at the Military Air Base in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Our trip from Fort Gordon, Georgia, had taken us to Charleston, SC by military convoy; then by C-141 transport planes to Dover, Delaware; Spain and Germany, and finally to our destination. It was in the evening, on 20 October 1990 that the Military Police of the 190th first stepped on Arab soil. The heat rushed into the planes and felt like someone had opened a giant oven. Slowly the soldiers gathered their belongings and moved off the aircraft, while others quickly unloaded vehicles and trailers from the aircraft. It was a busy evening for every one, as each group arrived and quickly set out from the Dhahran Air Base to our new home near the Port of Damman.
Home for the 190th Military Police Company was to be an old grain yard that had been converted into a military compound for the elements of the 89th Military Police Brigade. The 89th Military Police Bde was an active Army brigade that was being deployed from Fort Hood, Texas. The 89th had two Military Police battalions assigned to it: the 716th Military Police Battalion and the 720th Military Police Battalion. Both battalions were also active Army, but neither the brigade or the battalions had arrived in country yet. So, as soon as the 190th soldiers arrived at the compound, work began to establish the company area and make our stay there as comfortable as possible.
The task of making an old grain yard more like home was not an easy one. Soldiers searched and scrounged for every piece of material which could be used to make shelters.
From the meek beginnings of cots sitting in the middle of a large compound, the area took shape with shelters of every shape and size made of wood, cardboard, or wire dotting the area. Everything was useful, ponchos, camo netting, and anything else was put to use. It took only a few days for the base to emerge. Of course, like camouflaging your area in the woods, it was an ongoing process that would continue for the duration of a stay.
Although commanders were advised to allow their soldiers three days to climatize before being tasked with regular missions, the 190th was assigned its first mission within two days of arrival in-country. The mission: Defense of the newly established Military Police Brigade Compound known as "Griffin Base" after the mythological creature which adorns the 89th Military Police Brigade shoulder patch. The base was surrounded on all four sides by a high cinder block wall and could only be entered through two large metal gates located on the southwest side of the compound. Immediately the soldiers within the compound erected guard towers in the comers of the compound. Field phones and wire were also placed between each guard post to maintain communications between the posts and roving patrols. With everything in place, the unit began conducting security sweeps of the base on rotating shifts; to ensure that everyone received enough rest to maintain the 24 hour sustained operation.
It didn't take long before the unit's mission expanded. The new mission, which came down from Brigade headquarters, was the security of the nearby Port of Damman. The military policemen of the 190th assumed the mission from the "maps" of the 18th Airborne Corps, who had been performing that mission every since they arrived in country. Obviously this mission was going to require much more manpower and planning than the "Griffin Base" security mission. The Port of Damman was not a small installation. It was the main port, serving the Persian Gulf side of Saudi Arabia, where the bulk of the U.S. military land forces were to arrive into country.
Captain Hoffman immediately called together his officers and briefed his plan for handling the Port security mission. The port would be handled like a small community, divided into zones, with sentinels assigned to patrol each zone and, stationary guard posts located at critical access points to the area. In addition to the patrol plan, the unit would also operate a forward Operations Center from a warehouse located at the port itself. This would increase the efficiency of the military police operation in the port area, and provide Captain Hoffman with a link between his military police patrols and the company area at "Griffin Base". In addition to putting 190th soldiers at the port, other security forces from the U.S. Army's 7th Group, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Saudi National Defense Forces were also providing support to the port.
Those early weeks of our deployment to Saudi Arabia were busy for everyone. But that never stopped the members of the 190th Military Police Company from having a little fun. One such situation occurred not long after the rest of the active duty companies arrived at "Griffin Base". It seems that one of the military police units from Fort Hood, Texas took offense to our beautiful new Georgia State flag flying above our company Command Tent every day. So the boys from Texas proceeded to raise their Texas State flag just a bit higher than our Georgia State flag. Well, this proved to be nothing more than a challenge, and soon the "War of the Flag Poles" began. Quickly some soldiers of the 190th Military Police Co grabbed some extra poles and green duct to raise the Georgia flag higher. Then the Texas boys would raise their flag higher. Back and forth this went until both flags were hovering some 60 feet in the air with guide wires attached to them to prevent them from coming crashing to the ground. Finally, just after we had added one more pole to our already towering flagpole an order came from the Brigade HQ's:
Lower the flags to an acceptable height below the compound walls. Arguments continued between the two companies concerning who had won the war, but the decision was finally made that the boys from Texas had conceded, and so the Georgia Flag flew with pride over the 190th Military Police Co Command Tent for the duration of our stay at "Griffin Base".