Nat’l Guard unit with local ties heading to Europe for mission

216th Military Police Co. going to Romania to support Operation Enduring Sentinel

By Ralph Hardin

news@theeveningtimes.com

A military unit once housed in West Memphis is reporting for duty and heading across the Altlantic Ocean .

More than 30 Arkansas Army National Guard Soldiers assigned to the 216th Military Police Company are departing today to their mobilization station and on to Romania for a nine-month mission.

Once in Romania, they will conduct law enforcement duties on a military installation as part of Operation Enduring Sentinel, to include security patrols, base entry and customs duties for transiting American military members arriving from other countries, ensuring no contraband or prohibited items, per general orders, are possessed.

“There’s no prouder calling than serving one’s nation,” said Maj. Gen. Jonathan Stubbs, Arkansas’ adjutant general. “These guardsmen are trained and ready for this mission. We’re thankful to their families for the love and support they will give their guardsmen over the course of this deployment, and we’re thankful for the support of their employers who will surely miss them while they are away.”

The 216th was originally created as a field artillery battery in West Memphis in the 1950s. It converted to a military police company in 2000 and moved to North Little Rock in 2009.

The 216th Military Police Company. was federally mobilized in 2003 to provide garrison security at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, for one year.

Its members directly deployed overseas from Fort Leonard Wood to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2004 for its first overseas deployment.

The unit deployed again in 2008 to Iraq to provide convoy security in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 216th deployed on federal orders in 2014 to Afghanistan to serve as prison guards in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The 216th deployed more than 30 to Romania in November 2023.

The 216th’s members have supported numerous domestic missions, such as disaster relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and numerous state active duty missions in support of floods, ice storms and civil unrest.

Photo courtesy of the National Guard