[1] In September 1962 the battalion, then based at Fort Dix, Trenton, New Jersey, was deployed together with the 5th and 17th Field Hospitals, a public information section and a composite intelligence detachment as Task Force Charlie, part of the Federal military forces deployed to support the enrollment of James Meredith at the segregated University of Mississippi.

By late 1967 the battalion's mission was security and law enforcement in the Saigon/Cholon/Tan Son Nhut metropolitan area, South Vietnam.

The law enforcement mission involved normal military police functions in a metropolitan area, to include criminal investigations.

The battalion supported the requirements of the provost marshal, US Army Headquarters Area Command (USAHAC), for military police/security guards within the resources available.

[4]: 325–46  At the start of the Tet Offensive the battalion was configured to perform traditional military policing roles, however it soon found itself engaged in urban combat for which it was ill-equipped.