MP Battalion Area 15 Pendleton?

[New York]

Any Marines here got info on this?

Im being fap'ed out to a MP Battalion out in area 15 on Pendleton but im a grunt.

What are the duties and responsibilities? is this legit or am I gonna hate life?

[kbay0351]

in '95 I did a FAP with the MPs. I loved it, it was a nice change from 3 years of grunt life.

I was a 0351 stationed on Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii, and after our 2nd pump on Oki, several of us got fapped. We went through a mini MP school and our fap got extended to a year once they heard that President Clinton was going to be staying on our base and they needed the extra guys.

If you're a Corporal or above, you will ride around with the watch commander or other NCOs, patrol with mostly NCOs. If you're a lance, you'll do a lot of gate guard, foot patrols, flightline patrol, etc. I was a terminal lance, but still loved it.

It was such a big change for me from the grunts. You're uniforms have to be ULTRA squared away at all times, spit-shined boots, all that. But there's nothing like standing on the gate at 3am and seeing a battalion of your fellow grunts humping by...

The MP training you'll get is priceless later in life. As a FAP, we got to patrol in squad cars and do all the same stuff the regular MPs did. Write traffic tickets, respond to domestic disturbances, fights at the eclub.

If you want to be a cop when you get out, this experience is enough to easily get a job. I had a lot of job brochures sent to me from various State Troopers, border patrol, I remember one from Broward County on Florida.

Long story short, it was one of the most interesting years of my life. Lots of good memories.

[kbay0351]

I want to emphasize how very different the atmosphere is from the grunts to the MPs. It was almost like having a regular job, because you worked in shifts. For us, it was either days (6am-6pm), or nights (6pm-6am). My last couple months, they went to 3 x 8 hour shifts, which was nice because you were always there an hour before your shift started to draw weapons, check out your vehicle, get briefed etc, and a half hour after to fill out paper work.

They fit PE in after your shift. Not a lot of PE for us. We also stayed in pretty nice barracks. They had phones...unheard of at the time in the grunt barracks. I signed up for a phone right off, and couldn't believe not having to use the payphones outside to make a call. Completely different now I'm sure with cells.

Our NCOs & SNCOs treated us way differently than in the grunts. Much more layed back, much more professional.

I went back to the grunts after my FAP and had to readjust. Had 3 months left, but had a slightly different take on things.

[New York]

That was 13 years ago lol, i mean ALOT has changed in Corps.

I am a NCO, i just dont wanna waste the last several months of my enlistment doing nothing but useless camp services bullsh*t around the REG (painting rocks and curbs). If the whole MP thing is a better experience for the long run, I'll FAP to it.

Thanks for your insight, much appreciated.

[PJones64]

Sounds like it's all about the needs of New York and not the Corps.
How times have changed.