 My name is Captain Charles Peretti, I'm currently located in Raleigh, North Carolina, and I'm the company commander of the HHC 535th Military Police Battalion. So for me, coming out of college and coming into the reserves, I really wanted an opportunity to experience a diverse background in the military. And the MP Corps Regiment has some of the most diverse options that you can have in terms of career opportunities, particularly in the combat support side. From police operations to detention to some of the specialties that we get to work with with investigations and CID, there's just such a wide range of things that the MP Corps Regiment does, and that was really exciting for me to get to experience that range of depth in the Army. Being a platoon leader is the second most rewarding experience that I've had right after Company Command, and essentially they're kind of peas of the same pod. Being a platoon leader was an amazing opportunity for me to get to work with soldiers, to get to work with and be trained by, in a lot of cases, non-commissioned officers. I had some excellent NCOs, particularly my platoon sergeant and squad leaders, that helped mentor and develop me, and they got that first-hand interaction with me as much as I got first-hand interaction with them. So as a platoon leader, you're nested in with your soldiers. You're not, as you get on in your career sometimes, you kind of get detached from your soldiers and from that soldier level. As a platoon leader, you're right in the thick of it. Love the experience, love what I learned, love getting to spend my time in the field, my drill weekends working with soldiers. And of course in the reserves, we have a really unique thing where I have specialists and PFCs that have college degrees, technical expertise. It's something unique to the reserves in the National Guard. Getting to learn from them, not just on the Army side, but from their professional lives as well is an incredible experience. So first and foremost, I expect them to come in enthusiastic, ready to work. I expect them to come in physically and mentally fit. And I also expect them to come in with an attitude of being an empathetic servant leader. I want them to work as hard as I work on behalf of their soldiers, to fight and advocate for their soldiers to take care of their platoon. And a big part of doing that is the training and knowledge that you need to have, tactics, doctrine, Army practices, but more importantly just to come in with that right attitude. As we say in the Army, we can teach you anything, but if you have that right attitude and motivation to take care of your soldiers, that's everything I can ask for from a platoon leader. So like in any unit, constraints on time, the one thing we can't get more of. You're always going to find some of those intersection points with your civilian job, continuing your education, your family, key events in your life, weddings, marriages, graduations. There's always going to be things that are going to be pulling you in different directions for your time. As a platoon leader, as with any position, but especially because as a platoon leader, you're directly responsible for the care of soldiers. It's about managing your time, managing those constraints and having that dialogue with your leadership. Having an open line with your company commander up as well as your first sergeant, your executive officer, and your battle buddy, your platoon sergeant, and making sure that you let them know when you need help and the ways that you can help them so that you can be most efficient to accomplish a platoon's task. Absolutely. So I'd say first and foremost you have to dig into the reading and the doctrine before you get there. If the first time that you're seeing that product, that written product, a lot of the pre-reads for the course, if the first time that you're seeing it is when you show up, you're already going to be behind the power curve. I would also say to focus on your physical fitness. Not only because it's something you don't want to worry about when you show up and take that initial fitness test as you continue to do PRT throughout your time in the course, but also because it keeps you more resilient and ready. There are long hours, it's a lot of work, and you want to be at the best possible shape that you can be. Finally, I would say that before you even get to school and then while you're there for networking, find mentors. Whether they are mentors up, a rank or two above you that can kind of, especially somebody who's immediately a rank above you who can talk to you about a recent experience that they've had and give you some of that mentorship, but also non-commissioned officers, NCOs that can provide you with some of that essential knowledge that they have about best practices, basic things in the Army, everything from your wear of your uniform, assembling your gear, the little things you don't think about, that if you can knock those things out and be proficient at them before you even go to school, you're going to be able to focus on succeeding when you get there. Yeah, my name is Captain Kenneth Williams. I'm currently with the 96MP Battalion. The Battalion is located out of Camp Pendleton, California. I was a civilian law enforcement officer before I came into the military. So I knew when I came into the military that that was the direction I wanted to take. I chose military police over the other professions just through the diversity that it allowed me to get into throughout my military career. It allowed me to go serve as a combat support platoon, serving a detention company, and deploy multiple times to theaters that I was able to have a good effect. What I loved about being a platoon leader was being right there with the soldiers that I was in charge of. I loved being right there doing the training with them, completing all the exercises, becoming proficient not only as a military police officer, but also building the esprit de corps with the NCOs, my first sergeant or my platoon sergeant, and also the soldiers that I was working right along with. My expectation is that they're going to come in with a great attitude, be enthusiastic about what they're doing, and also the willingness to learn, the willingness to not only learn about the profession of being a military police officer, but learn about their soldiers and get the details, talk to their platoon sergeant, talk to the first sergeant, talk to myself as the company commander, and really get in and try to build that base of knowledge so that if a soldier has an issue or someone has questions they're willing to answer, they can be that first line leader that their soldiers turn to to handle their issues, whether it's training related, family related, or military related. The biggest challenges I see for platoon leaders facing is the time constraint. As a reservist, you may see your soldiers about once a month during training weeks. You'll see them for that two week period, but it's really getting the training done, getting to know those soldiers even though it's more of a on a personal level because of the outside influences on their lives. So you're going to have to do that work outside of the normal drill weekend to make sure that you're accomplishing all your tasks, not only you get, but also helping soldiers as they move through their career and continue to grow and improve throughout your time as their leader. Communication, and when I say communication, I mean communicate with their leaders, ask them for that mentorship, communicate with their classmates. You're going to go to your basic officer leadership course with people that have been prior service that are going to have life experiences that you haven't been around. You can learn from their knowledge. You're going to have former NCOs that are going to be able to tell you what Wright looks like and also just communicate with your SGLs when you get there. And they're going to be able to help you as you develop your career, what you need to know, what you need to learn. And then the resources that the military police branch can provide you as you go and grow throughout your life, your education, and the benefits that you get as being a military police officer.