MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS -- For Marines preparing to make the transition out of the Marine Corps, many will consider law enforcement as a future career opportunity. The Auxiliary Reserve Program provides Marines and sailors aboard the Combat Center with a means to experience law enforcement at their own pace.
“The Auxiliary Reserve Program is an internal program for [the Provost Marshal’s Office] where we allow active duty marines and sailors to come and cross-train into law enforcement,” said Capt. Benjamin J. Gutek, operations officer, PMO. “The program is generally designed for the Marines who are seeking employment in law enforcement after ending active service from the Marine Corps.”
For Marines in other occupational specialties, the program provides an opportunity to experience some tasks they may do as police officers. Volunteers get to conduct traffic stops and routine patrols.
“It introduces them to law enforcement and can help them know if it’s not for them,” Gutek said. “Second, it gives them the training and exposure to different concepts in a law enforcement position.”
As part of the program, participants will undergo much of the same training military police and civilian law enforcement officers receive in the Field Training Officer program. It is the same three-month course of training military police undergo when they first arrive to their duty station.
“While in the reserve program, we have the Marines complete the FTO program,” Gutek said. “It’s a ‘crawl, walk, run’ approach to getting them as up to speed as possible.”
Training is very structured and participants engage in a variety of training evolutions in the classroom and practical settings.
“While they have to have some classroom training, participants of the program will go through the same live-fire qualifications with rifle, shotgun and 9mm [pistol] as a military police Marine,” Gutek said.
The program can be taken at one’s own pace and has a flexible schedule. The time spent training can also be counted toward volunteer hours.
“If its four hours a month or twenty hours a month, the program is flexible and all on their own pace,” Gutek said. “There is no time requirement and everything is done on your off time.”
To learn more or to sign up for the Auxiliary Reserve Program, contact 830-6095.
“The program is an avenue for Marines and sailors to get volunteer time and exposure to law enforcement before they EAS,” Gutek said. “I want to encourage Marines who are looking to get out and fulfill some volunteer hours, or are interested in law enforcement to partake in the program.”