• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

FAST Marines Conduct Close-Quarters Battle Training in Yokosuka

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS071109-12
Release Date: 11/9/2007 8:22:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Gabriel S. Weber, Fleet Public Affairs Center Det. Japan

YOKOSUKA, Japan (NNS) -- Marines from the 1st Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST), 3rd Platoon honed their close-quarters battle (CQB) skills Nov. 6, by taking over an abandoned building at Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka.

"We went down there to practice our AUC (advanced urban combat) skills," said Sgt. Timothy Davis, a squad leader for the platoon. "In layman's terms, it's close-quarters battle, room clearing, building clearing and small unit tactics inside a MOUT (military operations in urban terrain) environment."

The Marines use non-lethal, paint ammunition known as "Simunition," to enhance the reality of their training, according to Lance Cpl. Matthew Harris.

"I think Simunitions is better than pretty much anything else," Harris said. "If you're using blanks or something like that, people won't move as fast, they won't take it as seriously, because if you're shooting blanks there's nothing actually flying at you. But people are more scared of getting hit with Simunition, so they actually move with a purpose, actually train a lot better because they don't want to get hit."

Davis added that the moderate pain inflicted by the training rounds causes the Marines to be more aware of the consequences of their actions in a tactical situation.

"With the Simunition, when it hits you and you go down, you get that adrenaline pumping," he said. "You know that if you don't move quickly enough across a hallway or if you don't [lie] down suppressive fire, your buddy is going to get hit and he's going to go down and feel some pain. It brings it as close to reality as you can."

During the exercise, the Marines practiced force-on-force scenarios, which push them to apply what they have learned in the areas of rules of engagement, responding to hostile action or intent and hostage recovery. According to Davis, developing these skills is essential to the mission of FAST Marines.

"One of the missions of FAST is a lot of recapture missions, which means taking over buildings that we have been in before and take them down quickly and smoothly," said Davis.

"It brings up our proficiency a lot," added Harris. "There are a lot of units that don't get as much of this type of training, so this gives us a leg-up on them a little bit. I think it's one of the best kinds of training we can get, because that's a lot of what we do."

The extensive nature of the training will also better prepare FAST Marines for a future in the fleet, according to Davis.

"With just the core skills, each one of these guys, being a private first class or a lance corporal, is going to have the proficiency level to train a platoon or even a company if they can retain the knowledge enough," Davis said. "Even at just a minimal level, when they get out there to their fire teams and squads, they'll be able to pass on the basic steps like aggressiveness and violence of action, the simple things that will ensure success. They may not be 100 percent, they may not be the best at it, but they're going to be better than most people, and definitely better than all the other Marines in their peer group."

Davis said that FAST Marines conduct this type of training more often than most other Marine units in the fleet, because it pertains more to their mission. He also feels this type of training would have been very valuable during his time in Iraq and Afghanistan, before going to a FAST platoon.

"In my last unit in the fleet, the Simunition training was kind of few and far between, so at FAST it seems we get it a little bit more," said Davis. "We're shooting a little bit more because we have the majority of our missions being in a building-type environment. Here, the amount of training is invaluable. The three-week course that we go through, I would pay a million dollars to have all the Marines that I went to Iraq with go through that."

Based in Norfolk, Va., 1st Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team, 3rd Platoon is currently deployed to Yokosuka in support of Commander, U.S. Seventh Fleet.