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U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Building Strong ®


579th Engineer Detachment (FEST-M) Global Support

Knowing is half the battle when it comes to terrorist groups


by Mark Abueg
WINCHESTER, Va. (Jan. 28, 2010) – Members of an Army unit stationed in
Mississippi continued its training to better prepare for worldwide deployments.

The 579th Engineer Detachment (Forward Engineer Support Team - Main) spent
the past two days learning more about terrorism from a global perspective and
domestic outlook during their weeklong Individual Training Awareness Class
(INTAC).

“International terrorist groups are not a part of domestic terrorism,” said course
instructor Chris Kozlow, who taught the domestic portion of the class.

He identified types of terrorist groups in America, including right-wing and left-


wing organizations, and special interest groups and militia survival factions.
“Just as you’re planning how to protect us, they’re planning how to attack us,”
A picture of Saddam Hussein is shown as Ocie Williams,
Kozlow added. supply technician for the 579th Engineer Detachment
(FEST-M), listens to a lecture about weapons of mass
destruction. (Photo by Mark Abueg)
From the 9/11 attacks to the Oklahoma City bombing, both foreign and domestic
attacks occur in the United States. The classes showed the systems inside of systems and how one region impacts
another according to a course instructor who asked not to be identified.

“There’s a larger mosaic of different actors that are involved here,” he said. “Because I think
the danger always is that you get so focused on specific missions and a specific part of a
specific country that it’s often difficult to have time, frankly, when you’re doing that work to
see the interrelationships.”

Ocie Williams, the FEST-M supply technician, knows that he will not be deployed to locate
terrorists, but he does know how the information will apply to him and the rest of his team.

“In the time of war, you can’t be ignorant to your surroundings, much less have a closed
mind,” he said. “You have to be observant and willing to listen and try to understand every
new aspect that comes your way because you never know when some of it, any of it, will
become useful. Everything has a purpose.”

A display of a suicide vest hangs in This story is part four in a special report of the 579th Engineer Detachment (FEST-M)’s
the classroom of the Individual
Terrorism Awareness Class (INTAC). Individual Terrorism Awareness Class (INTAC) training in Winchester, Virginia. Mark Abueg
(Photo by Mark Abueg) is the FEST-M public affairs officer.

U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS – 579TH ENGINEER DETACHMENT (FEST-M)


4155 Clay Street, Suite 120, Vicksburg, Mississippi 39183-3435
Office: (601) 631-5987 | Cell: (540) 532-7735 | E-mail: mark.b.abueg@usace.army.mil
www.mvd.usace.army.mil/579festm

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