WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Oct. 29, 2003) - "I've been called a lot of things, but never the provost marshal general, and it sounds good," said Maj. Gen. Donald Ryder, the Army's first PMG in almost 30 years.

During a re-establishment ceremony for the office of the Provost Marshal General, Ryder was sworn in to uphold the position. He now serves as the 11th general officer to ever be the PMG.

"This is a major milestone ... the PMG will be a single source for the Army staff on all key law enforcement elements and security issues. We are here to support the Soldiers in the field," Ryder said.

"As we sit here, a military police team is getting in an armored vehicle to go on patrol in Iraq or an agent with CID command is in the desert looking at mass grave sites to see if there was an atrocity," Ryder said during the ceremony. "In this environment, it's not if our MPs are attacked, it's when."

“However, they continue the mission, and the Office of the Provost Marshal General will never forget that," Ryder concluded in his speech.

During the re-establishment ceremony, Ryder accepted the flag to represent the PMG with retired Maj. Gen. Lloyd Ramsey, the last serving PMG.

"When I held the position, Ryder still had a year before he would be commissioned in the Army," Ramsey said.

While on the Army staff, Ramsey said he did a number of things to improve the morale of the military policemen after the Army made the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command a separate entity.

"One of the first things we did was design a badge for the MPs, then we got them better vehicles," Ramsey said. "There was also a problem with investigating small crimes because the provost marshal no longer had control over CID. So we organized the military police investigator.

"I think the Army has made a good decision in bringing all the law enforcement agencies back under one command," Ramsey said.

The position of the PMG was first established in 1776 during the Revolutionary War, but was abolished after the war. During the position's history, it was usually established during major combat, but discontinued shortly after the conflict was over.

In line with history, former Secretary of the Army Thomas White approved the re-establishment of the Office of the Provost Marshal General effective Sept. 26, 2003 during the war on terrorism.

There's a reason the PMG is essential in wartime, said Lt. Gen. James Lovelace, director of the Army staff. "There are 16,000 military policemen and we are the most rotated, deployed and used units in the Army."

The MPs are the first and last Soldiers people see when they enter and leave the post, Lovelace said. They are the ones who keep the environment safe and peaceful, he added.

Ryder will be "dual-hatted" as both the PMG and the commander of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command. Sgt. Maj. Brian Deorocki was also named as the provost sergeant major.