MSD 71 Trains Iraqi Marines Aboard Oil Terminals

Navy NewsStand ^ | Journalist 2nd Class Zack Baddorf

[SandRat]

AL BASRA OIL TERMINAL, North Persian Gulf (NNS) -- Mobile Security Detachment (MSD) 71 Sailors are training their Iraqi marine counterparts to defend the waters surrounding Iraq’s oil platforms, Al Basrah Oil Terminal (ABOT) and Khawr Al Amaya Oil Terminal (KAAOT).

Coordinated through Commander, Task Group (CTG) 158.1, the ongoing training scenario simulates an attack on the terminals and culminates with the live-fire shooting of a target placed in the water.

During the training, Iraqi marines manning the lookouts report the scenario’s progress to the Tactical Operations Center (TOC), which decides the proper course of action.

While the attacking vessel is just a simulation, the threat is very real. In April 2004, in an attack on one of the oil terminals, a dhow exploded, killing two U.S. Navy personnel and one U.S. Coast Guardsman.

“It was foiled early on and so it was not a successful attack on the platform itself,” said Lt. Cmdr. Kenny Miller, the officer-in-charge of the mobile security detachment, “but this just goes to prove that a surface threat against the terminals is a very, very real threat. So this training that we do directly reflects this real threat.”

Master-at-Arms 1st Class (AW) Billy Carver said the platoons of Iraqi marines are “ready, willing and able to do what needs to be done.”

“The goal is to eventually have them trained well enough to where they can assume all duties of the platform,” said Carver, the lead instructor for training the Iraqis.

The mobile security detachment evaluates the Iraqis’ reactions to the inbound attacks.

“They are learning how to put together their own training programs and run their own training schedule,” said Miller. “We are really in a grading and evaluation mode right now and going through an evaluation sheet on their exercises.”

Despite a different Iraqi marine platoon cycling in each week, Carver said the Iraqis and Americans have an extraordinary working relationship and will continue training to ensure the protection of Iraq’s infrastructure.

“Currently, the two platforms are providing about 85 percent of the gross domestic product for the Iraqi nation,” said Miller, “so providing security for the transfer of this oil obviously establishes security for their financial future at the same time.”

For related news, visit the Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, U.S. 5th Fleet Navy NewsStand page at www.news.navy.mil/local/cusnc/.

[SandRat]

Training the Iraqi's to secure their own future