Guard plans to swap units in Jackson

~ The 735th Quartermaster Company will be replaced by 1137th Military Police Company.

A change-up in the Missouri National Guard will secure a military police company in Jackson.

With the recent addition of a new National Guard unit, the 1138th Transportation Company in St. Louis, the Guard will begin swapping some of its existing units throughout the state.

Jackson will bid farewell to Detachment 5, 735th Quartermaster Company as it moves to Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis. In its place, Jackson will receive Detachment 1, 1137th Military Police Company, which will be housed in the local armory, according to a National Guard news release.

With the military police company in the area, there will be more law enforcement personnel able to be deployed in the event of an emergency, Capt. Tamara Spicer said.

"It will be a great benefit in emergency response," Cape Girardeau County emergency management director David Hitt said in the release.

The company would offer military police training for local residents who wish to go into that field with the Guard.

"We thought it would be a good fit," Spicer said, adding now young adults have a choice between the National Guard and Southeast Missouri State University's law enforcement academy.

Before the change, the closest place for residents to receive military police training in the Guard was in Poplar Bluff, Mo., or Doniphan, Mo., according to Spicer.

"Now they're going to have that option in Jackson," she said.

The new detachment coming to Jackson will have the same number of guardsmen as the old detachment, according to Spicer.

The new Missouri transport unit will be based at Jefferson Barracks, with a detachment in Jefferson City, the release stated. With the changes, Portageville will receive a transportation company formerly housed in St. Louis.

Training was expected to begin shortly for personnel in the new Jackson unit. Spicer speculated that within two months enough guardsmen could be undergoing military police training for the detachment to be considered at full strength.

kmorrison@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127