The return of Marines to Beirut as full-time embassy guards for the first time in more than 30 years is a notable milestone for those who fought to maintain stability in Lebanon, a country oft-wracked with religious and ethnic tensions.

As of early September, Marine security guards are again manning Post One in Beirut. From their perch in the lobby they screen building visitors and, most importantly, safeguard classified information for the first time since the 1980s.

The post holds profound significance for Marines young and old. The embassy there was bombed in 1983 and again in 1984. But the most vicious attack occurred in October 1983 when a suicide bomber in an explosive-laden truck destroyed the Marine Corps barracks at the Beirut airport killing 220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers. Official investigations would later reveal that the explosion was the largest non-nuclear blast in history up to that point — equivalent to 21,000 pounds of TNT.

It was the single biggest loss of Marines since the Battle of Iwo Jima.

The incident hastened the withdrawal of U.S. and international peacekeepers. A contingent of Marines continued to guard the embassy until 1986 and on a temporary basis through the early 1990s. Seeing the return of full-time MSGs marks a proud day for many who served there.

"It is just right to have our Marines there with our ambassador and our team," said Maj. Gen. Mark Brilakis, the commanding general of Marine Corps Recruiting Command. He served in Beirut as a lieutenant at the time of the barracks bombing and lost six fellow Marines from his unit. "It is good for the State Department and good for the Marine Corps and good for the nation of Lebanon."

The return to Beirut is a sign of U.S. commitment to diplomacy, said Fred Lash, a retired Marine public affairs officer who served in Beirut at the time of the first embassy bombing.

Lash, a charter member of the Beirut Veterans of America, who refers to that chapter of Marine history as "the first battle against terrorism," added that the return is a proud moment not just for Marines, but for the country as a whole.

"I think it takes things full circle. They can knock you off the horse, and you can stay off the horse for a while, but you are going to get in the saddle again," he said. "It shows willingness on the part of the American people and State Department to stick with this diplomacy thing."

When Lash arrived in March 1983, he said things were peaceful. He would often drive up to Le Commodore Hotel, where much of the press corps he dealt with lived.

"It was a soft-cover kind of trip," he said. "We might have had a helmet and flak thrown in the back, but we thought peace was just around the corner. Then the bombing started."

The first major strike was against the embassy on April 18, 1983. Lash had been slated to hold a joint news briefing with the State Department there, but a last minute decision was made to hold it at the airport.

About five to 10 minutes after 1 p.m., a massive explosion erupted, killing 17 Americans including the Marine at Post One. In all, 63 people died in the embassy explosion. The recovery included accounting for the human toll, as well as digging out the Marine killed at Post One and the U.S. flag, which Lash was entrusted to deliver to leadership at the Pentagon.

'The continuing legacy of Marine Corps presence'

Brilakis, then a naval gunfire support team leader, said his Marines began taking fire not long after arriving with Charlie Battery, 1st Battlaion, 10th Marines, assigned to Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 8th Marines.

"Some of the fighting going on between the Lebanese army and various militias started to affect the airport," he said. "Our days were filled with patrolling. When things got a little more fractious and a little more lethal, we spent more time providing security."

From their position near the airport, the Marines were easy targets from surrounding mountains.

Brilakis said in a Sept. 19, 1983, story in the Los Angeles Times, "This position breaks all the rules," as Marines worked each day to fortify their positions with sandbags as added protection against rocket and artillery fire.

"I think for those who have learned that Marines are back in Beirut representing the Marine Corps and defending sovereign U.S. soil in that embassy — it is a point of pride to have Marines back in that embassy," he said.

Last October, he attended the 30th anniversary observance ceremony at the Beirut Memorial in Jacksonville, North Carolina, for the barracks bombing.

"The overarching emotion from all those guys was one of pride, pride of being Marines, pride of having served in a location where their nation sent them. They were ordered to go do a job and they did it the best way they could," he said. "What happened in Beirut, why we went and what we tried to do is another star in the constellation that is the U.S. Marine Corps."

The re-establishment of an MSG presence in Beirut reflects current efforts to bolster security at embassies across the globe.

"This is another phase of the continuing legacy of Marine Corps presence in Beirut," said Capt. Eric Flanagan, the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group spokesman at the Pentagon. "It is a re-energizing and reaffirmation of our commitment to our diplomatic security mission. Additionally, this is a sign of the steady growth of the Marine Security Guard program."

Following the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, Congress directed the Marine Corps to add 1,000 Marine security guards throughout the world.

Currently, the Marine Corps has about 1,500 security guards and it plans to add hundreds more next year so it can meet its target of 2,200 guards by 2016. The State Department has identified about 35 diplomatic posts that need Marine guards, of which the Corps has opened detachments at 17, including in South Africa, Gabon and the Republic of Congo.

The Marine Corps has also created a Security Augmentation Unit based at Marine Corps base Quantico, Virginia, that has about 130 Marines who can deploy immediately if needed to bolster diplomatic security. Those Marines are trained embassy guards.

"I'm really proud of what Marines doing with MSAU and the Special Purpose-MAGTF," Lash said. "They can do all the things in the world to make you pull out, but it is really a good feeling to go back in. I would say Tripoli at some point — when the situation is right — we'll go back, set up the embassy and MSG will be there."

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Staff writer Hope Hodge Seck contributed to this report.

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