PHILLIPS — Two days after his courthouse wedding in the spring of 2025, Price County Sheriff’s Deputy Drew Hohensee said goodbye to his new bride and flew overseas for a year-long deployment to Estonia with the U.S. Army Reserve.
Hohensee, who also has the rank of specialist as a mechanic with the 102nd Military Police Company out of Sheboygan, is accustomed to training one weekend a month, and for two weeks each summer, but this deployment required an extensive leave from law enforcement work and civilian life.
The deployment, which ran from June 2025 through May 2026, sent Hohensee and his unit to Paldiski, Estonia, in the Baltic region during a time of heightened tensions along NATO’s eastern flank. Estonia shares a border with Russia, and roughly 25% of its population are native Russian speakers – adding complexity to the sensitive security posture, and at one point Estonia temporarily closed land bridges as tensions spiked.
“We took our security very seriously up there,” Hohensee said.
The transition between soldier and deputy is natural, he said. Both jobs involve a uniform, a chain of command and a commitment to public safety.
“It’s kind of like switching brains,” he said. “Here, I’m a cop, over there I’m a mechanic.”
Why Hohensee, a deputy sheriff, is not serving as a military police officer in a military police unit is a long story. He was studying criminal justice in college when the restrictions and lack of interaction during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown led him to withdraw and talk to recruiters who explained the stark difference between working in military justice versus civilian law enforcement, and encouraged him to pursue another occupational specialty where his scores were very high – a wheeled vehicle mechanic.
“I grew up on a farm, so we fixed all our own stuff the best we could with wrenches,” Hohensee said.
So the job overseas became maintaining the Humvee, Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicle, the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, and Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck. The assignment suited him.
The unit’s broader mission centered on presence and force protection, he said. Military police enforced laws and regulations among U.S. forces and conducted joint training exercises with French, British and Estonian counterparts — including drills where soldiers planted fake explosive devices on vehicles while MPs from multiple nations worked to find them.
The deployment was largely uneventful, though not without moments of tension, he said. There were occasional drone sightings, quickly handled by Estonian authorities. On one occasion, a Russian MiG fighter jet crossed into the unit’s airspace at low altitude and high speed, with friendly jets soon in pursuit.
“It wasn’t long after that, the Navy had a ship in the Baltic with a carrier, and it seemed like almost every day there was a jet flying over in our airspace for a while,” he said.
The government shutdown presented the unit’s most significant operational challenge. Unable to procure vehicle parts through official channels, mechanics cannibalized some vehicles for parts or improvised substitutes.
“You gotta do what you gotta do to make it work,” Hohensee said.
The deployment created other cross-training opportunities where Hohensee was a driver who transported unit MPs for training and missions in other places around Estonia, and in Germany, allowing him to see Lithuania, Latvia and Poland along the route. Adjusting to kilometers per hour was a learning curve, he said. There was also an opportunity to observe the tank mechanics with the 6th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment performing annual services on the M1 Abrams tanks.
Off duty, soldiers had some freedom to explore.
Hohensee and friends traveled to nearby cities and took a train to points of interest north and south. A standout memory was visiting Tallinn Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site featuring an intact 13th-century medieval district.
“It was very medieval looking and had lots of good bakeries and food,” he said. “It was really, really interesting.”
Estonians spoke English fluently, particularly those under 25.
“It was just kind of a culture shock to me because I wasn’t expecting that,” he said.
Hohensee used his downtime during the deployment to complete nine college credits toward a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. He also ramped up his physical training, running up to six miles a day and lifting weights regularly.
The deployment required personal sacrifices as well. Upon his return he said it was the everyday freedoms that he missed most in readjusting from the regimentation of military life.
What he missed most, he said, were the small freedoms of civilian life — driving his own vehicle, moving around without reporting his whereabouts, and simply being home. The couple renewed their vows Sept. 26 and are expecting their first child in February,
Hohensee is completing his six-year contract and will transition to the Inactive Ready Reserve in April to finish the remainder of an eight-year commitment. He now wants to focus exclusively on his law enforcement work and family.
“I love and support my county and my community here, and I just generally want to help people in their time of need,” Hohensee said. “The feeling of helping someone in that time of need makes me feel good. It’s my job, it’s what I love to do, and it’s why I’m here.”