U.S. Marine nuclear rescue team stands ready in Japan

These lot sound pretty hardcore in terms of training and equipment! I hope they are not needed and just remain as a precaution!

"The CBIRF unit was created in 1996 in the wakeof the 1995 sarin gas attack on Tokyo's subways"

So, Aum Shinrikyo was the inspiration for this unit!

Good to see the Marines being cast in a good light.

Almost all of us grew up in an era of balanced, fearless and excellent broadcast and print media so we know what were the real situation in Three-mile Island (TMI) and Chernobyl. Whether TEPCO and the Japanese Government admit it or not, Fukushima situation is now in between the case of TMI and Chernobyl. it is time for a martial law or worldwide emergency in Fukushima and these marines and the special units mentioned in this article should be called upon and kick TEPCO's asses out and take over. The problem in Fukushima has been complex ever since day-1 and TEPCO is not revealing the truth.

There were time in a day that TEPCO staff just go inside the pump building about 5 minutes only and return to their shelter for the rest of the day because of high radioactivity. They just keep on working outside pouring water to the 4 reactors. Compare to TMI which had radioactive Iodine only, Fukushima has a lot of Cesium and possible Plutonium. In TMI, with only one crippled reactor, both the government and the plant owner declared after one month that the risk of further meltdown was over. Tomorrow is the one-month anniversary of Fukushima and still the situation is considered "Extremely High".

proud of the US MARINES!

Take note folks. These people are not there to stop anything from going critical. Just to clean up during and/or after. I hope the teams are in place to see to it that the reactors cannot go critical in the first place. Let us pray that the new team is just never needed at all.

My English is not good, and my Latin far worse. But I believe their motto goes: Semper Fi.

Thank you Marines.

@mukai:

I'm a Marine. You got it right.

You have to respect those guys. They risk their lives for others. Hats off.

I think only the Marine Corps would have enough people willing to volunteer for such a unit to be able to actually field units like this.

The noncombat unit will be based indefinitely at Yokota U.S. Air Force base, just west of Tokyo.

A non-combat Marine unit is an oxymoron.

USNinJapan2 - I wouldn't say that to the face of a member of that Marine unit. Those people are pretty tough.

Sarge

You do know what an oxymoron is right? A phrase which is a contradiction in terms? My point was that because every Marine is by definition and training an infantry rifleman there can be no such thing as a non-combat Marine. Hence the oxymoron.

Gung Ho!

atta boy, Devil Dogs!

'any clime or place'

USNinJapan2 - Sure, all Marines are trained for combat, but combat is not all they do, as in this case. No such thing as a non-combat Marine? Let me introduce you to the Chemical Biological Incident Response Force.

Agree with Sarge.

While not the Marines, this morning news showed a team of SDF soldiers looking for survivors.

Everyone did the same job including the comm guy who still had the heavy radio strapped on his back.

Granted some troops got extra training but in a situation as right now everyone helps out.

There are Marine units that are not front line combat units but every Marine in the unit can shoot, swim, run a million miles, handle explosives, know hand to hand combat.

Just because they are not currently shooting bad people doesn't mean they cant do it if they need to.

This unit ironically is probably far less safe then some combat units, in combat you can kill the other guy and you are done. In a contaminated area you have to rubber suit up and one slight mistake you will die or get sick. There is no real way to actually defeat contamination like an enemy force.

No such thing as a non-combat Marine?

Yes Sarge. There is absolutely no such thing as a non-combat Marine. Just ask any Devil Dog and s/he'll be more than happy to enlighten you.

Sarge

No such thing as a non-combat Marine? Let me introduce you to the Chemical Biological Incident Response Force.

Non-combat my ass. You don't carry a SAW or an M-204 if you're not in a combat role. Below is from the GlobalSecurity article on the USMC CBIRF.

The CBIRF's security element is a standing unit of approximately 120 Marines mostly infantrymen. With an infantry company as a security element, the CBIRF has a force trained in a variety of roles including security patrols, Military Operations in Urban Terrain, riot control and vehicle and personnel search. The element's roles are equally as varied in CBIRF operations. Members can be tasked with providing security patrols for the reconnaissance element, quelling civil unrest, detaining hostile forces, assisting with the evacuation of casualties, securing the contaminated area a providing security to the CBIRF site. The unit carries the M870 shotguns, M16-A2 service rifles, M-203 40mm grenade launchers M-249 Squad Automatic Weapons and M-204G medium machine guns. If necessary, they can implement further weaponry such as the 81mm mortar and Shoulder launched, Multipurpose Assault Weapon (SMAW), known as the "bunker buster." While all infantrymen continuously receive intense training in numerous areas, including Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) identification and defense, the CBIRF's security element has also received heightened training in operating in a chemically and biologically contaminated environments.

I think USNinJapan2 was just trying to be a bit light hearted about the whole deal.

the sicilian

Thanks. Glad at least one person got it...