These Marines go in right after chemical and biological attacks

Some of the most dangerous threats that could be employed against the U.S. military or homeland are the chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons of mass destruction.

While attempted dirty bombs or anthrax attacks have usually been stopped by the intelligence and police services before the attacks took place, there’s a group of Marines and sailors who train and constantly prepare to react to a successful attack.

Dubbed the Chemical, Biological Incident Response Force, or CBIRF, these Marines are ready to go into nightmare attacks after they happen.

“CBIRF is the only unit in the Marine Corps trained to respond to the worst scenarios imaginable here and abroad,” Erick Swartz, senior scientist with CBIRF and designer of the CBIRF battle drills, told a Marine Corps journalist. “At any moment CBIRF can and might be called on to save lives.”

Here’s a look at America’s 911 call for a nuclear, chemical, or biological attack:

1. The CBIRF is capable of deploying on short or no notice. Once they arrive, they have to confirm what the chemical and biological weapons in play are.

2. While operating in a chemical, biological, or nuclear-contaminated area, the Marines wear special gear to protect themselves.

3. When they arrive in a disaster area, platoons deploy throughout the area to start rescuing trapped people.

4. In a city that has suffered an attack, the Marines would face many technical challenges, so they train on the most difficult possible rescues.

5. The Marines’ mission requires a lot of specialized equipment, like these Paratech struts for lifting light structures and vehicles.

Marines with technical rescue platoon, Chemical Biological Incident Response Force, CBIRF, use Paratech struts to stabilize a truck and extricate a simulated victim during training with soldiers from 911th Technical Rescue Engineer Company stationed at Fort Belvoir, Va., as part of Exercise Scarlet Response 2016 at Guardian Centers, Perry, Ga., Aug. 23, 2016. (Photo: Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Maverick S. Mejia)

6. The unit has to be prepared to rescue people from factories, warehouses, and other challenging structures as well. Here, they practice a medevac from a simulated steam plant explosion.

7. The CBIRF has to search from the top to bottom of each structure while shoring up damaged areas to make sure the building doesn’t collapse.

8. The unit even trains to recover people from the wilds. Here, a Marine trains on rescuing a parachutist trapped in a tree.

9. The Marines could face a continuing threat, so they train to find and defuse or destroy dangerous devices.

10. The recovered survivors need lots of medical care, so the Marines evacuate them to field decontamination areas and hospitals as quickly as possible.

11. As areas are secured and cleared, the teams write notes at the entrances to let other Marines know the status of the building and the local rescue efforts.

12. At decontamination areas, the Marines clean each victim before they’re taken to the medical platoon for treatment. This gets most contaminating agents off the of the victims and protects them, the Marines and sailors, and other patients.

13. Thankfully, the Marines haven’t had many real-world incidents to respond to, but they do have real missions. For instance, they protected both the Republican and Democratic national conventions in 2016.

14. The CBIRF Marines and sailors constantly work to make sure that the rest of us can be rescued if the nightmare scenario ever comes to pass.

U.S. Marines with Identification and Detection Platoon (IDP) part of the primary assessment team, Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (CBIRF) locate and assess casualties found at a steam plant during a training exercise with the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) on Randall’s Island, N.Y., Sept. 15, 2016. (Photo: Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Maverick S. Mejia)