5/14 MP Bn., gets back in fight
CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (Oct. 31, 2005) -- The last time 5th Battalion, 14th Marines, 4th Marine Division, was deployed to a combat zone Franklin D. Roosevelt was president and the United States was in a world war against the Japanese in the South Pacific.
http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/09C7E3F3D2A73C26852570AB003F4603?opendocument
Submitted by: II Marine Expeditionary Force (FWD)
Story Identification #: 200510316316
Story by Cpl. Evan M. Eagan
CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (Oct. 31, 2005) -- The last time 5th Battalion, 14th Marines, 4th Marine Division, was deployed to a combat zone Franklin D. Roosevelt was president and the United States was in a world war against the Japanese in the South Pacific.
Arriving here late September after more than 60 years of readiness, the battalion is back in the fight.
Various elements of 5th Bn., 14th Marines, served in support of Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s, however this marks the first time the whole battalion was deployed to a combat zone since World War II.
Although 5th Bn., 14th Marines, is an artillery unit by trade, they deployed as a provisional military police battalion with Marines coming from various active duty and reserve units throughout the Marine Corps.
“Five-Fourteen is a combination of units,” said Chief Warrant Officer Thomas Tomka, force protection and mobile training team commander, Headquarters Company, Military Police Battalion, 5th Bn., 14th Marines, II Marine Expeditionary Force (FWD). “We have Marines from 1st Battalion, 14th Marines, an active duty MP Company from Camp Pendleton, a TOW Company from 25th Regiment, MP’s from Louisiana and Minnesota, and Marines from 4th Force Reconnaissance from Hawaii and [Reno, Nev.,].”
Prior to deploying in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the unit came together at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif., for security and stability operations training and a revised combined arms exercise.
“We spent from June, when we got activated, to September at Twentynine Palms training for this,” said Tomka, a Vietnam and Gulf War veteran. “We got acclimated and trained for this mission and we are motivated.”
The battalion is tasked with four main missions while serving in Iraq: area security, convoy security, law enforcement and operating five detention facilities throughout Al Anbar province, to include the detention facility here.