Two marines from the 1st Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team (FAST) Battalion guarding an Iraqi oil rig in April 2004
The Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST) is a branch of the United States Marine Corps security forces capable of rapidly deploying to improve security at United States Government installations worldwide. FAST marines are deployed at the Chief of Naval Operations' discretion when the primary and auxiliary security forces of the Marines are unable to adequately respond to a security crisis. 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Special forces or (sometimes colloquially and incorrectly) special operations forces (general term) are military units formed and trained to conduct missions of unconventional warfare, counter-terrorism, reconnaissance, direct action, and foreign internal defense. ... The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) is the senior military officer in the United States Navy. ... This article is becoming very long. ... This law-related article does not cite its references or sources. ... The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) is the senior military officer in the United States Navy. ...
Established in 1987, this Security Operations group was developed primarily as a defensive measure to secure and safeguard Marine assets in the fleet or in the rear of a combat theatre. If the main bulk of a Marine security force has been overrun or is in danger of being overrun, the FAST team may be deployed to provide reinforcement. The FAST team is equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry and currently consists of around or over 500 Marines.
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References
Special Operations.Com's USMC Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST) page
Rowe, Charles W. "F.A.S.T. is the Way to Go!" The Gun Digest Book of Assault Weapons, 3rd Edition. Jack Lewis, ed. Northbrook, Illinois: DBI Books, 1993. ISBN 0-87349-139-4.
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GlobalSecurity. ...
External links
Marine Corps Security Force Battalion official page Parent unit of the FAST companies
FAST Company Marines augment installation security when a threat condition is elevated beyond the ability of resident and auxiliary security forces.
That means that FASTteams usually deploy quickly to a high-threat region to enhance the security already there, such as the Marine Security Guard force at an overseas embassy.
FAST platoon commanders are usually captains from combat-arms fields, Petrucci said, and there is rarely a shortage of volunteers asking the monitors for the assignments.
The FAST battalion is made of two companies of six 50-man platoons each, based at Norfolk Naval Station and Yorktown Naval Weapons Station, and a training company at Naval Security Group Activity Northwest, near the Northwest River and the North Carolina border in Chesapeake.
Platoons are deployed with the 5th Fleet at Bahrain in the Arabian Gulf, the 6th Fleet at Naples, Italy, in the Mediterranean Sea, the 7th Fleet in Yokosuka, Japan, and Guantanamo Bay.
The FAST companies were established in 1987 when the number of international terrorism incidents reached a record 665.
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