Rota Marines ready to react; change
could move more troops to Spain force
By Scott Schonauer,
Rota bureau
Scott Schonauer / Stars and Stripes
Marine Sgt. Matthew Strong and Lance Cpl. Patrick Waters conduct a security
sweep during an exercise late Wednesday night at Naval Station Rota in Spain. |
NAVAL STATION ROTA, Spain — Maj. Andrew Crabb expects the exercise to rattle the
platoon.
He doesn’t think they’ll find a suspicious package, arrest a scooter-riding
suspect or respond to an unauthorized person lurking near the airfield. It is the fifth
day of the drill. The platoon faces mental and physical exhaustion.
But his Marines prove him wrong. They capture the man on the scooter, sweep through the
airfield and — within seconds of the drop — find the package and cuff the
suspect.
All of it in less than 20 minutes.
Crabb, the commanding officer of Marine Corps Security Force Company Rota, says
he’s impressed and a little disappointed. The group moved so fast, the scenario
didn’t have time to fully develop.
"I’ll hand it to them," he says. "There are reacting quickly."
Although the exercise only tested the Marines with simulated situations, their quick
response might help defuse critical moments in the near future.
The company hopes it will be tasked for a major transformation in purpose and mission.
The Navy may consolidate Marines from London and Naples, Italy, to Rota to create a
rapid reaction force to protect Navy installations, ships and U.S. embassies against
terrorists.
If approved, these Marines would deploy after an attack or the threat of one, to help
security personnel on the ground guard Americans potentially in harm’s way.
They would have to be fast, smart and ready to go any place in Europe, Africa or the
Middle East on a moment’s notice.
It would require Marines, accustomed to the mundane task of guarding sensitive
buildings and checking ID’s on base, to always have their bags packed.
Scott Schonauer / Stars and Stripes
Marine Lance Cpl. Patrick Waters aims his gun at Sgt. David Self, who is playing a
potential terrorist during an exercise late Wednesday night at Naval Station Rota in
Spain. The gun was not loaded. |
Becoming a rapid reaction force would be one of the biggest changes since the company
arrived in Rota 44 years ago.
But most infantry-trained personnel in the company embrace the idea like a
much-anticipated Christmas gift.
"Everybody is looking forward to it," Staff Sgt. Robert Lee said. "All
of the Marines."
Although the Secretary of the Navy and the Spanish government have not approved the
consolidation, the company has doubled in size in the past six months, going from 60 to
120 Marines.
They also have lined up a series of exercises like this week’s drill to prepare
for what they hope is an eventuality.
Earlier this month, the company trained to protect a pier and guard a ship. They have
similar training events planned for later this year.
The tactics are purely defensive, Crabb said. They’re not like a crack team of
special operations commandos who take out terrorists in clandestine missions.
The Marines want to be seen as a deterrent, a show of force.
"We’re not going to go there to relieve them of their security force so they
can take a break and go on leave," he said. "We go there to help them."
This week, the exercise tested the company’s ability to deploy to a Navy base and
protect its airfield.
The make-believe scenario could come from today’s headlines: A U.S. military base
in Europe is threatened by mass protests and violence from anti-globalization and
anti-NATO activists. The Marines then come in to boost security much like a Naples team
did when they went to Macedonia earlier this summer to guard the U.S. Embassy in Skopje
from rock-throwing protesters.
Much like real terrorists, the fictional terrorists try to use deception to test the
platoon’s reaction and find the weak links in security.
Evaluators throw a few challenges into the mix, but the drill is not scripted.
Commanders want to see how the Marines react as well as think on their feet.
They step in to create what Crabb calls "friction." It makes the simple tasks
difficult and the difficult tasks nearly impossible.
He walks up to one of the platoon leaders and takes his much-needed mobile phone.
"Your phone is broken," Crabb tells him. It’s not. But in the fog of war
or a blooming crisis, communication often fails.
"We’re trying to overwhelm them to see how they react to multiple
events," Crabb said.
They also are deprived of sleep.
The exercise is 24 hours a day. Marines work six hours on and six off. It is the
responsibility of the platoon leader to take out personnel whose thinking appears to be
clouded by the lack of rest.
Tired minds would be tested when a suspicious person, played by Sgt. David Self, would
enter the airfield on a motor scooter.
The Marines have a decision: wave the man down and hope he stops, shoot at his 50cc
moped to slow him down or use deadly force.
Men guarding the runway stop the person and detain him without shooting.
At a roundtable-like discussion afterward, the platoon discusses lessons learned. Some
agree that the scenario was handled correctly. Others, including Lee, disagree.
"I would have shot him," he said.
The Marines had the authority to use deadly force, but Crabb said the man on the
scooter could have been a base worker on his way to work or just a kid trying to provoke
the Marines.
"Did that meet the criteria for the deployment of deadly force?" Crabb asks.
"It’s something you need to think about. It’s a gray area."
It’s also the type of problem that might face the Marines in their new mission.
And they will have seconds to make a decision.
Self, who is one of the sergeants responsible for training the company, will have to
come up with similar simulations to prepare the Marines for what they might face.
He has been busy lately trying to come up with challenging training exercises.
"We want them to crawl, walk and then run," he said.
So far, he has willing, enthusiastic pupils.
"These are infantry Marines," he said. "This is what they do."
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