89th Military Police Brigade (United States)

The 89th Military Police Brigade is a military police brigade of the United States Army based at Fort Hood, Texas. It is a subordinate unit of III Corps.

Activated in Vietnam in the midst of the Vietnam War, the unit provided military police services for two corp-sized forces operating in the region. It played a supporting role throughout the entire conflict, staying in theater for the entire war and earning fifteen campaign streamers.

Since then, the brigade has seen duty in numerous areas of operation throughout the world and performed numerous duties including disaster relief for Hurricane Hugo as well as service in Guantanamo Bay. It also played supporting a role in the Gulf War. Recently the brigade served two tours of duty in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Organization
The brigade is subordinate to III Corps. It is headquartered at Fort Hood, Texas. Almost 1,000 soldiers of the brigade are stationed there.

The Brigade contains three subordinate battalions of military police:
 * 93MPBnDUI.jpg 93rd Military Police Battalion, at Fort Bliss
 * 720MPBnDUI.gif 720th Military Police Battalion, at Fort Hood

Vietnam War
The 89th Military Police Brigade was originally activated as a "group", roughly the size of a modern regiment. The 89th Military Police Group was constituted in the Regular Army on 19 February 1966 and activated on 15 March of that year in the Republic of Vietnam. The mission of the 89th Military Police Group was to provide general military police support for the III Corps and IV Corps Tactical Zones. The group stayed in Vietnam in support of the two corps' areas of operation. As the group was a supporting unit, it never saw front line combat. However, it did receive all 15 campaign streamers that could be earned for Vietnam service. With the removal of US forces from Vietnam, the organization was inactivated on 21 December 1971.

On 13 September 1972 the unit was activated at Fort Lewis, Washington. The 89th Military Police Group was designed to command and control the operations of three to five military police battalions and other assigned or attached units. Additionally, it provided a Provost Marshal staff section to the corps headquarters while assigned as their senior military police organization.

The 89th Military Police Group remained at Fort Lewis until 21 February 1976 when the colors were transferred to Fort Hood, Texas. On 16 July 1981 the 89th Military Police Group was reorganized as the 89th Military Police Brigade.

Post-Cold War
The 89th Military Police Brigade has deployed around the world in support of US Army missions in numerous places, seeing both wartime and humanitarian service roles. The soldiers of the 89th MP Brigade supported operations in Honduras, Panama, Cuba, Somalia, Virgin Islands, Bosnia and Hungary.

The Brigade played a supporting role during the Gulf War. It was sent to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as part of operations include Desert Shield and Desert Storm during 1990 and 1991. During the action, it provided military police duties for XVIII Airborne Corps. The Brigade was one of numerous units thought to have been exposed to chemical weapons following the Khamisiyah Pit Demolition. The long term effects of this exposure are not clear.

The brigade participated in disaster relief after Hurricane Hugo 1989, and Operation Sea Signal in support of Joint Task Force 160 in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from June to November 1994.

Personnel from the 89th Military Police Brigade were deployed in January 2002 at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to serve as the headquarters element for Joint Task Force 160. They were replaced in May 2002 by personnel from the 43rd Military Police Brigade from the Rhode Island Army National Guard. The subordinate unit of the 89th MP Brigade that deployed for this mission was the 401st Military Police Company, 720th Military Police Battalion.

Operation Iraqi Freedom
The 89th Military Police Brigade deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom early 2004, where it took over the mission previously tasked to the 18th Military Police Brigade on 31 January 2004. At that time the brigade assumed responsibility for the Iraqi Police training mission as well as the majority of all the Military Police Units in Iraq at that time. The unit returned to Fort Hood in December 2004.

The 89th Military Police Brigade deployed for a second tour in August 2006 to the Iraqi theater of operation in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 2006–2008. During the deployment, it was composed of over 5,000 military police soldiers in the theater. Brigade responsibilities included corrections and security operations. It deployed K-9 units during some operations. The brigade's primary responsibility, though, was the training of Iraqi police units. The brigade focused on local police units throughout the country, as another MP brigade handled the national police. The brigade commander would brief US Department of Defense officials in The Pentagon on the current situation, live from Iraq. It suffered several casualties, including a soldier killed by sniper fire, a soldier killed by a suicide car bomb, and two soldiers who died of non-combat related causes. The brigade returned home in October 2007, replaced again by the 18th Military Police Brigade. After this, the brigade resumed its policing roles at Fort Hood.

During its second deployment, one of the unit commanders, William H. Steele, became infamous for being accused of breaching military law by aiding the enemy. He was acquitted of the charges, though he was convicted of other charges and subsequently dismissed from the military.