MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- The sound of metal slamming into metal jumped the soldiers into action as they rushed through the steel doors to subdue an inmate trying to escape from his cell.
Soldiers of the 308th Military Police Company Internment/Resettlement, United States Army Reserve, came to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune as part of a training work-up, June 16, where Marines taught them how to transfer prisoners from one cell to another. Marines with Brig Company, Headquarters and Support Battalion, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, played the roles of the noncompliant prisoners.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 John Nolan, executive officer of Brig Company, taught the soldiers proper procedures to transfer noncompliant prisoners to a different cell in the safest manner possible.
“There’s a point where his cell (is too messy) and we have to move him for his own safety,” said Nolan. “He doesn’t want to move cells, so then we have to go in and get things moving.”
Immediately following Nolan’s class, the Marines demonstrated how to handle and transfer a prisoner.
Five Marines lined up, one behind the other, ready to enter the cell. After the doors opened, the Marines charged at the inmate, each Marine taking control of a different part of the prisoner’s body. Once the Marines subdued the prisoner, the participating Marines and soldiers pointed out mistakes, such as how to hold their feet or when to place the cuffs on their hands. Then the soldiers took their turn.
“I think it was good training,” said Army Sgt. Elisha Batteiger, a reservist with 308th MP Company. “(We) never turn down a chance for real-life training.”
After practicing these techniques in a training room, soldiers put their training to the test. In an overcrowded hall within the brig’s actual cell block, five of the soldiers lined up, ready to subdue the Marine role playing a prisoner waiting inside the cell, taunting the soldiers.
The cell door suddenly opened, and the soldiers took off. They filed into the small cell as the “prisoner” started to fight back, reaching for the cell door. The soldiers were able to control him, get him down, cuffed, and in position for transfer.
“We got the biggest guy they had and that’s what it’s going to be like in real life,” said Batteiger. “So I think we did good. (Even though) you can never be ready for what’s overseas, it was great to get some hands-on training.”
This exercise is part of 308th MP Company’s predeployment training matrix before their deployment to Afghanistan.