Marines from Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team, Company Europe must train regularly in order to protect vital national and naval assets. Petty Officer Russell Rhodes has the story.
Rhodes: Marines from Alpha Company, First Platoon of Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team Company Europe just completed the first embassy engagement exercise in U.S. Africa Command in Rabat, Morocco. Commander of Aplpha Company, First Platoon Captain Jacob Fernandez had this to say:
"Embassy engagement exercise, it truly is an exercise that is designed to meet all the core mission essential tasks of a FAST platoon, specifically, rapid deployment, anti-terrorism operations, security operations, and embassy reinforcement."
Rhodes: During the first three days of the exercise, FASTEUR trained with DGSN, the Moroccan police force, sharing techniques on the firing range, close quarters combat, and nonlethal engagement (Sound pop *Shotgun pump). First squad leader of Alpha Company, First Platton Sergeant Anthony King had this to say:
"So the benefit of working with these host nations is to build some sort of comraderie and friendship with the other nations, like between Americans and the host nation themselves. So if we do get point of situation where we need to work together, we have a bedrock to work off of."
Rhodes: Lance Corporal Marcus Burwell had this to say about working with the Moroccan Police force: "Working with the locals has been phenomenal, probably the best experience I've ever had in my life. They're just very friendly people, they're very eager and willing to learn, and they're not afraid to ask questions."
Rhodes: The engagement exercise culminated with a final exercise at the embassy where the Marines were run through numerous scenarios to demonstrate the full range of their capabilities.
Fernandez: "What the exercise brought out was the ability for FAS to evaluate all its core METS, and collective tasks associated with that, while simultaneously allowing the State Department to evaluate their emergency action procedures."
Rhodes: Charge de Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Morocco, Stephanie Miley had this to say about the benefit of the engagement exercise to the embassy:
"One of the things that any chief of mission or charge around the world would want to know is who can come and assist when there is a crisis. So knowing that there are those rapid reaction forces out there is a wonderful sense of comfort."
Rhodes: Reporting from Rabat, Morocco, I'm Petty Officer Russell Rhodes. (Sound Pop *Man Over Radio: "End of exercise"*)
| Date Taken: | 06.09.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 12.13.2017 09:21 |
| Category: | Newscasts |
| Audio ID: | 50384 |
| Filename: | 1712/DOD_105171428.mp3 |
| Length: | 00:02:15 |
| Composer | MC2 Rhodes |
| Conductor | MC2 Rhodes |
| Year | 2017 |
| Genre | Blues |
| Location: | MA |
| Web Views: | 33 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
| High-Res. Downloads: | 2 |
This work, FASTEUR Completes First Embassy Engagement Exercise in AFRICOM, by PO1 Russell Rhodes Jr, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
