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 task force Airmen save lives in Iraq

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. R. Michael Longoria
  • 9th AETF-I / ACCE-I Public Affairs
CAMP VICTORY, Iraq --  Airmen assigned to Combined-Joint Task Force Troy are dedicated to countering improvised explosive devices and saving lives of Iraqi and joint forces conducting Operation New Dawn.
The baker's dozen of assigned Airmen are involved in everything from operations to intelligence and information technology support. They are battlefield Airmen serving in joint expeditionary taskings alongside joint and interagency colleagues.

"JET Airmen are a vital part of this task force and bring so much to the table from explosive ordnance disposal skills to intelligence analysis," said U.S. Army Col. José R. Atencio III, CJTF Troy commander. "I believe that JET Airmen contribute a great deal in making our counter-IED fight so successful in saving lives. One fight, one team."

One key responsibility of CJTF Troy is neutralizing the IED threat through collection and exploitation of IED evidence and related intelligence in four integrated laboratories.

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jason Snow, deployed from Langley Air Force base, Va., is often one of the first people to process evidence associated with the counter-IED mission. Sergeant Snow is the noncommissioned officer in charge of the task force's Combined Explosives Exploitation Cell triage laboratory.

After an IED is discovered, EOD technicians immediately recover evidence from the crime scene and transport it to Sergeant Snow and his team, where the device exploitation process begins.

After ensuring no remaining explosive hazards, the triage laboratory team determines which other task force laboratories will process the material, and in what order.

"Something as simple as which laboratory examines the evidence first can have a dramatic effect on the results," said Sergeant Snow. "For example, the electronics exam may destroy trace explosive residue, while chemical sampling may destroy valuable fingerprints collected by biometrics."

After evidence has been processed and sorted by the triage laboratory, it continues its journey. Chemical, biometric and technical laboratory teams all work to improve the way ground forces attack and defeat IEDs and IED networks.

The chemical laboratory determines what types of explosives were used and identify any precursor chemicals that are used in homemade explosive mixtures. The biometric laboratory collects finger prints and DNA data to look for any possible matches to known insurgents in their various databases. The technical laboratory strips down the IED to figure out how it operates.

The entire process is used to defeat IEDs before explosions occur and to prosecute criminals who are building them. The success of this mission is leading to increased safety for Iraqi citizens and Iraqi Security Forces as well as U.S. and joint forces.

"By determining and sharing enemy trends, our convoys can adopt different tactics and procedures to mitigate IED threats," said USAF Col. Michael P. Schaub, CJTF Troy director of intelligence. "We are seeing IED-related casualties at an all time low and JET Airmen are having a significant impact on that."

With the primary focus of Operation New Dawn on building partnerships with Iraqi Security Forces, CJTF Troy conducts an advise, train, assist and mentor mission to help the Iraqi government develop their own C-IED effort and build sustainable security capabilities.

"Airmen have played an instrumental part in transferring the EOD mission to the Iraqi Army," said Colonel Atencio. "As the Iraqis become more proficient in their skills, we have taken more of an advisory role with the Iraqis leading all the EOD missions. It truly is an outstanding success story."