Two weeks after returning from a 12-month deployment to Iraq, the Soldiers of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 705th Military Police Internment and Resettlement Battalion, saw their battalion’s ranks grow by two companies and gained a new battalion commander and command sergeant major.
In a ceremony Aug. 26 on Main Parade, HHC, Joint Regional Correctional Facility, and the 165th MP Company were activated as part of the 40th MP I/R Battalion, and immediately transferred from the 40th to the 705th.
Lt. Col. Erica Nelson, commander of the 40th MP Battalion, said the activation of the two companies had been in planning for at least three years, and the units started physically forming in March.
“I am honored that they were under the 40th,” Nelson said.
HHC, JRCF, is led by Capt. Billy Huntsman and 1st Sgt. Bryan Schoenhofer, and the 165th, is led by Capt. Tara Kaiser and 1st Sgt. Marcus Robinson.
“This ceremony culminates a lot of work by a lot of folks,” said Col. Eric Belcher, commander of the Army Corrections Brigade. “These two captains have basically built these units from nothing.”
The 40th MP Battalion and its companies — HHC, 40th MP Battalion; HHC, U.S. Disciplinary Barracks; the 291st MP Company; the 256th MP Company and the 526th MP Company — operate the USDB.
The newly formed 705th MP Battalion will operate the Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility when it opens later this year.
The Soldiers of the 705th were back on Main Parade Aug. 27 to bid farewell to the commander and command sergeant major who led them during their recent deployment and welcome a new command team.
Lt. Col. David Deadrich passed the battalion’s colors to Lt. Col. Dawn Hilton. Deadrich is moving on to a new assignment in the Office of the Provost Marshal General in Washington, D.C.
“The 705th MP Battalion, who has provided leadership in transforming corrections … has once again been called upon to lead change,” Hilton said after assuming command. “This time, we will be asked to lean upon our collective experiences in order to provide leadership to establish a new Joint Regional Correctional Facility. In this prison, we will incarcerate U.S. military prisoners sentenced up to five years of confinement and hold pretrial personnel as necessary.”
Hilton is no stranger to Fort Leavenworth, the USDB or the 705th, having served as the post’s deputy provost marshal, the USDB’s director of operations and the 705th’s S-3. She has also served as a mentor and trainer for Afghanistan Army detainee operations and at the European Command Emergency Plans and Operations Center in Stuttgart, Germany.
