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FAST Company and CTF 68 Conduct Contingency Response Training Exercise

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS140919-13
Release Date: 9/19/2014 12:29:00 PM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Grant Wamack, Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Christina Brewer and Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jacob D. Moore, Naval Station Rota Public Affairs

ROTA, Spain (NNS) -- Sailors from Commander, Naval Expeditionary Task Force Europe and Africa (CTF 68) joined with Marines from Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team (FAST) Company Europe and Africa at Naval Station Rota Sept. 18 for a contingency response training exercise.

The exercise is designed to train personnel in the event of a real-world emergency evacuation.

FAST Company Europe and Africa is a rapid response anti-terrorism force assigned to CTF 68 capable of performing expeditionary security operations and other crisis response missions to protect vital national assets within the U.S. Africa and U.S. European Command areas of responsibility. These include U.S. embassies, consulates, military bases, installations, assets and safeguarding them against espionage, sabotage, damage and theft.

CTF 68 Sailors included personnel from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) 8, Coastal Riverine Squadron 3 and Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 133.

The exercise included a simulated emergency evacuation, setting up a compound for evacuees, including in-processing and identification checkpoints, armed ground security and a vehicle control point on the pier.

CTF 68 Sailors in-processed evacuees, who then boarded a bus which was led by a convoy to the pier. In a real crisis, evacuees would have been escorted to a ship waiting on the pier for evacuation.

'Planning and training for these contingencies shows commitment of the units of Task Force 68 to meet real-world challenges and emerging threats,' said Maj. Curtis Shreve, FAST Company Europe and Africa commanding officer. 'This is just another example of what we (CTF 68) do to inspire a culture of combat readiness, strengthen alliances and partner capabilities, and improve operations.'

As combat trained infantry Marines, FAST Company Europe and Africa's mission is to deter, detect, defend against, and mitigate terrorist operations, actions and attacks. Two overseas FAST platoons, one in Rota and another in Yokosuka, Japan, support headquarters and maintain permanent presence overseas under the operational control of the appropriate combatant commander. FAST Companies are poised to respond to developing situations and conduct worldwide, short-notice, rapid-response, expeditionary and anti-terrorism operations.

FAST maintains a high degree of readiness in order to conduct short-notice, limited-duration contingency operations, as seen in the port security mission following the October 2000 attack on guided-missile destroyer USS Cole (DDG-67) in Yemen and providing security for the U.S. Embassy in Liberia. FAST Marines participated in several embassy reinforcements during the Arab Spring uprisings, from Cairo, Egypt, to Sana'a, Yemen.

On Sept. 12, 2012, FAST Company Europe and Africa was sent to Libya in response to the 2012 U.S. Consulate attack in Benghazi.