An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Joint EOD training at the Transit Center benefits two nations

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Carolyn Viss
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, Kyrgyzstan --  Kyrgyz army explosive ordnance disposal technicians visited the Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan, March 15 to 19 for a subject matter information exchange with US EOD Airmen and Soldiers.

U.S. Army Central EOD staff, who assisted with the visit, regularly tour countries in the area of responsibility from their home station at Ft. McPherson, Ga., to improve partnerships and increase international security. The Airmen here also regularly bring Kyrgyz soldiers to the installation and the EOD range to train together, increasing the capabilities of both militaries.

"This exchange incorporated improvised explosive device response theory and practical application of core EOD tool sets," said Tech. Sgt. Michael Yates, 376th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron EOD flight chief deployed from Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. "The event concluded with Kyrgyz soldiers running independent operations on the EOD range here with scenarios provided by the American EOD flight."

Despite all of the advanced technology we have available to us, the most effective and best tool we have as EOD is our training and teamwork, Sergeant Yates said.

"Every bit of information passed between the Kyrgyz and US has the potential to save lives if applied correctly," he said.

One huge reason cooperation between the U.S. and Kyrgyz EOD units is so necessary is that both militaries have humanitarian de-mining missions, according to U.S. Army Lt. Col. Frank Davis, ARCENT G-334 current operations EOD staff officer.

The Kyrgyz soldiers, just like American Airmen, are willing to sacrifice their own safety, security and well-being so that citizens of this country can live with peace of mind and avoid injury or death caused by improvised explosive devices and land mines.

"A lot of their borders and valleys are mined ... and civilians find them," Lt. Col. Davis said. "Our goal is to help our partners increase and develop their capacity and abilities to handle situations with IEDs and unexploded ordnance internally."

Additionally, the Kyrgyz Army is able to develop their contingency force so they can deploy as part of the coalition team, Lt. Col. Davis said.

"Kyrgyzstan is developing their professional NCO corps, that was very evident during this event with many of the teams being lead by Kyrgyz NCOs," Sergeant Yates said. "This provided everyone with a great situation to mentor fellow EOD NCOs and provide positive, direct feedback to them with our enlisted members. This helps tremendously with one of their goals: to become a self sufficient unit capable of accomplishing their mission on a national and international level."