The Law Enforcement Command will be officially changing its name to the 924th Military Police Batallion, effective 12 July 2001. The reason for this change was stated by the batallion commander and Provost Marshall LTC Michael Galloucis, "The title 'Law Enforcement Command' doesn't properly represent this batallion or its soldiers.... This title implies that this batallion only serves one purpose, and only has one job....In truth, this batallion has numerous jobs and tasks.... We not only provide Ft. Riley with garrison law and order, we also have a field mission....I refuse to tell the soldiers in my batallion that they are only good at one thing..."
ATTENTION ALL FT. RILEY RESIDENTS
Registration of personally owned vehicles has begun on Ft. Riley (as of May 1). All service members, family members, and DOD civilians with POVs have a suspense date of 1 August 2001 to have all vehicles registered.
June 20, 2001 - 300th MP Co Change of Command. Cpt. William Benner will be leaving and Cpt. Jennifer Schroeder will be assuming command of the 300th.
July 10, 2001 - 977th MP Co Change of Command. Cpt. Todd Schroeder will be leaving and Cpt. Lorenzen will be assuming command of the 977th.
July 20, 2001 - Change of Command for LEC. LtCol Michael Galloucis will be leaving and LtCol Pamela Martis will be assuming command of the 924th.
MPs honor fallen comrades
FORT RILEY, Kan. (Fort Riley Post)
Robert and Carla Bouslaugh of Durango, Colo., were en route to the Vietnam Wall Memorial for Memorial Day when Robert fell ill.
They stopped in the area and after visiting the post museum, they were visiting the Military Police buildings on Main Post where there’s a monument to fallen soldiers of the 716th Military Police Battalion. A lieutenant came out and told them about a ceremony that was going to take place the next day.
“I’ll definitely be back for it,” said Robert, a retired sergeant first class who spent 12 months in Saigon assigned to the 716th MP Bn.
When the 716th returned from Vietnam in 1973 it located to Fort Riley where it stayed until 1996. After being relocated at Fort Campbell, Ky., the remaining units at Ft. Riley were reorganized into the Law Enforcement Command.
Soldiers of the LEC honored fallen comrades of the 716th MP Bn. on May 24 with a ceremony at the granite monument.
“It was emotional enough and the highlight of my trip,” Bouslaugh said.
During the afternoon ceremony, the 52 names engraved on the monument in front of the LEC headquarters were read. There was also a wreath laying, in which Bouslaugh participated.
Before the ceremony, LEC soldiers noticed him and Carla standing by the monument and when they learned that he was a veteran of the 716th, he was asked to participate.
“I’m glad they found out about this ceremony and came,” said Lt. Col. Michael Galloucis, the LEC commander. “I thank them for coming--it added a really special touch.”
During the ceremony, Galloucis told the formation of soldiers that the monument was there to pay the appropriate respect for those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
“You may pass this monument on a daily basis but you may not know the significance of this monument,” Galloucis said. “Now you know.”
Bouslaugh, who retired in 1994 as a sergeant first class, served in the same unit of the men and women listed on the monument. He spent his first three years on active duty, during which time he deployed to Vietnam.
He remembers the 716th as being a spit and polish unit in Vietnam.
“We had to patrol Saigon and so they wanted us to look sharp for the dignitaries,” he said. “It was a lot of work, from chroming the web gear to getting the uniforms tailored and looking sharp. It was quite a contrast to the combat zone.”
The soldier with the sharpest uniform got a day off, Bouslaugh said. Since the soldiers worked 12-hour shifts a day and only got one day off a month, everyone tried to get the day off.
“It was hard,” he said, “because you were competing with a couple of hundred guys. I never did get a day off. I tried though.”
During the ceremony, Galloucis recited part of the poem “Young Dead Soldiers,” which is engraved on the monument. The author, Archibald MacLeish, was a poet who served in World War I and rose to the rank of captain in the artillery.
“One way to honor these 52 names and the memories of all of the other names on monuments across the nation is to never forget them,” Galloucis said. “Let’s never forget what they did and what they died for.”
