Remembering Those Who Serve … And Protect

By Ashlie Hardway, ABC 7 anchor and reporter

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I don’t want to sound like I’m boasting, but I want to take a few minutes to tell you all how proud I am of my husband, Nick.

Nick is an Operation Enduring Freedom veteran, meaning he served in Afghanistan during the Iraq War. He was a military police officer for four years. When a lot of people think of military police officers, they think of gate guards or shore patrol, but Nick was so much more than that.

He pulled over traffic violators, responded to calls, issued citations and wrote reports, just like a city police officer. When he was in Afghanistan at Bagram Air Base near Kabul, he performed security for contractors. He would sometimes tell me of violence nearby, but luckily, he was never hurt.

Now let’s fast-forward to present day. After working with an armed security company for a year in Laredo, Nick moved with me to El Paso where he was hoping to get on the El Paso Police Department as a transfer officer. However when he applied, he found out it wouldn’t be possible.

Typically when a former police officer applies with a new city, he or she can be hired as what’s known as a lateral transfer, meaning he or she won’t have to go through the whole police academy but a shortened academy (six weeks in El Paso). Well, Nick and I found out that the State of Texas does not recognize the Navy Police Academy as an acceptable education. They do accept transfer cops who served as MPs in the Army, Air Force and Marines, but not the Navy. Needless to say, Nick and I were upset when we found out Nick would have to go through the entire academy. While it may not seem like a big deal that he learn for an extra couple months, for us it means less pay, a lower rank and more time apart.

So, since the academy is at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Nick thought it would be pretty easy to get TCLEOSE (or Texas Commision on Law Enforcement Standards and Education) to review the academy. He started making the calls in August before he was forced to move back to Pittsburgh since he couldn’t find work in El Paso. He had to jump through several hoops with EPPD, Lackland and TCLEOSE to get the curriculum and proper paperwork to one another. After months of waiting for higher-ups to review the paperwork, making calls and following-up, we finally got the news we were waiting for on Wednesday, Dec. 19: TCLEOSE and EPPD will recognize the Navy Military Police Academy.

This isn’t just good news for Nick and me, but rather every veteran Navy MP in Texas. Now, thanks to Nick’s hard work and TCLEOSE’s recognition, all Navy MPs can go become lateral police officers for any department in the State. This means they won’t be at the academy for as long and they can potentially start out at a higher rank and pay grade than if they were coming in with no experience.

As long as he passed his state test — which I’m sure he did because he studied hard — he will be going through the academy for six weeks starting in January. He doesn’t think what he did is a big deal, but I am so proud of him. I already talked to a couple of my bosses at ABC 7, and they think we can do a story on him (I won’t be able to do it, of course. Nick told me that two other Navy MP veterans are already waiting to go through the EPPD academy.

For all of the veterans and Active servicemen and women out there, thank you for everything you do. I know at times you may feel under appreciated, but you mean the world to me. No matter what anyone’s opinions are on the war, don’t ever feel like we are upset with you. We can’t live without you. We love you, we respect you, and we miss you. Most importantly, we thank you.