Country United States Role Anti-terrorism | Type Specialty | |
Active 2004-2007(USMC)2007-2013 (USMCR) Size 700+ Marines, 30–40 Navy Hospital Corpsmen |
The Anti-Terrorism Battalion (AT BN) is an inactive infantry battalion of the United States Marine Corps. It was a specially equipped and adapted to meet short notice requirements during the Global War on Terror for the Marine Corps.
Contents
Mission
In response to the 9-11 attacks the mission of the Anti-Terrorism Battalion was to rapidly deploy specially trained and sustainable forces to detect, deter, and defend against terrorism, as well as to conduct crisis response in the event of a terrorist attack.
In reality, the battalion acted as a "fire brigade" for the 2d Marine Division and II MEF, fulfilling short- and no-notice missions that required squad though reinforced company size elements vice a traditional 1,000 man infantry battalion to be deployed.
Rotational Duty
After the September 11, 2001, the Marine Corps began rotating standard infantry battalions such as 3rd Battalion 8th Marines (3/8) through 6 month on-call assignments as the designated "Anti Terrorism Battalion" to meet short term/no-notice mission requirements. Examples included augmenting security at the American Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, with a rifle company for site security. These rotations required company and smaller size detachments, but removed the entire force of the 1,000 man infantry battalion from the main war fighting effort. This posed a problem for the Marine Corps as Operations Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Iraqi Freedom (OIF) began to require additional full strength infantry battalions to rotate in and out of theater at a higher rate.
USMC AT BN Activation
The permanent AT Battalion (AT BN) was activated Oct. 29, 2004, under the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (Anti Terrorism) (4th MEB (AT)). The 4th MEB (AT) was deactivated in February 2006, on the same day Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command stood up, and the AT BN was administratively transferred initially to the II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF), and then finally to the 2d Marine Division by March 2006.
The AT BN initially consisted of;
Iraq & Horn of Africa
Between 2004 and 2007, the AT Battalion had served in western Al Anbar, central Baghdad and northern Diyala provinces of Iraq. Deployments included:
Numerous Marines also augmented other requirements for National Police Training Teams (NPTT), Military Transition Teams (MiTTs), and MEF augmentation requests to other infantry units.
Most Marines in the battalion completed two to three consecutive combat deployments in a single three-year tour of duty with the battalion as part of their initial 4-year enlistment contract.
USMC AT BN Deactivation
On 13 July 2007, the active duty AT BN stood down in name and was reflagged as the 2nd Battalion 9th Marines as part of the increase in the size of the Marine Corps.
USMCR AT BN Activation
In 2007 the Marine Corps Reserve reactivated the AT BN to meet similar mission requirements for the 4th Marine Division that the active duty battalion had met.
Yemen
Fox Company AT BN 4th MARDIV augmented the US Embassy security and Anti-Terrorism operations in Sana'a Yemen 2011-2012.
USMCR AT BN Deactivation
On 21 September 2013, the USMCR AT BN was officially deactivated.