Marine FAST units prepared for deployment at any time
By Mark Oliva, Okinawa
bureau
Reports of U.S. troops closing in on Afghanistan, along with fears of reprisal attacks
to U.S. interests in neighboring countries, could mean more work for the Marine
Corps’ Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Teams.
Marine FAST units — one of the Defense Department’s units dedicated to
countering terrorism at U.S. bases and embassies — were called to secure two U.S.
embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 after bombings there leveled the buildings,
killing 224 and wounding thousands.
U.S. Embassy officials in the region surrounding Afghanistan were tight-lipped Monday
on security measures.
Mark Wentworth, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, said there is
a dedicated team of Marines routinely assigned to protect the U.S. Embassy. However, he
would not say if a FAST unit had been deployed to the region.
FAST units are separated into two companies, one headquartered in Yorktown, Va., and
the other in Norfolk, Va. They routinely are deployed to bases around the globe, including
Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan; Naples, Italy; Bahrain; and Saudi Arabia.
Marine officials aren’t talking about where FAST Marines are deploying, but said
the units are ready to move on a moment’s notice.
"We have FAST teams standing by, ready to perform a wide variety of
missions," said Marine Capt. David Nevers, spokesman for Marine Headquarters in
Washington, D.C.
Training for FAST Marines is defensive in nature, with a heavy emphasis on short-term
emergency defense to limited counterattack and recapture.
And the training is weapons-intensive. Marines assigned to FAST come from the
Marines’ School of Infantry and the Security Forces School, training in combat
marksmanship and room clearing techniques with shotguns and pistols. Beyond that,
they’re trained at a specialized-school for FAST Marines in close-quarters battle and
on the use of the MP-5 submachine gun.
But that’s not the end of their arsenal. FAST Marines train with nearly every
weapon available to Marines and soldiers on the battlefield, from 9mm pistols to
.50-caliber machine guns and automatic grenade launchers to anti-tank rockets.
The units have an accomplished resume.
Their expertise was first called in 1989 to Panama, responding to incursions on U.S.
Naval installations there. FAST Marines also served in Operation Just Cause later that
same year.
During Operation Desert Storm, FAST Marines ran security for the Navy in Bahrain, and
in 1991 they secured the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia, Liberia, following a noncombatant
evacuation operation. They also secured U.S. mission in Somalia in the closing days of
Operation Restore Hope in 1994.
Running stepped-up security for U.S. embassies in Pakistan and Uzbekistan is well
within the scope of missions FAST Marines routinely and historically perform. Within 10
hours of the bombing of the Khobar Towers, in Saudi Arabia, FAST Marines were running
security there, as well as arriving on scene soon after the East Africa embassy bombings.
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