EOD: Staying one step ahead of the enemy

Published Dec. 24, 2008
By Senior Airman Clinton Atkins
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Bombs may not be exploding at this Southwest Asia air base, but in a war where the enemy is always finding new ways to inflict damage one shop remains one step ahead of the bad guys.

The 379th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit here uses innovative training which allows them to thwart terrorist attacks.

"Our primary role here is force protection and we respond to any type of (improvised explosive device) threats, suspected vehicles and anything else of that nature," said Master Sgt. John Beebe, 379 ECES/EOD flight chief. "We also respond to unexploded ordinance on the flight line."

Since June, EOD has responded to 15 possible threats at the vehicle search area and four other suspicious items around the base - all were false alarms. If there ever is a real threat, EOD's cool hands can diffuse any situation.

"Our training scope goes from the littlest 9mm round up to the biggest non-conventional weapon in our inventory," said Senior Airman Travis Few, 379 ECES/EOD journeyman. "We get trained on absolutely everything including every aircraft and U.S. and foreign ordinance. Whether it's a chemical or mechanical explosive, we handle it."

With such a wide array of expertise, proficiency training is an ongoing effort. EOD spends more than 10 hours per week honing their skills and when they're not training they are maintaining and procuring equipment to stay ready. The bomb experts also spend time teaching fellow warriors.

"We're training in-shop, setting up problems or doing classroom-type training to keep ourselves proficient," said the Glen Carbon, Ill., native. We also train other units to help them better protect themselves and other people on base.

The EOD team doesn't simply train, they create various scenarios that push the limits of their knowledge.

"We set up scenarios based off things in the (situation reports) coming from Afghanistan and Iraq," said Sergeant Beebe, a native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "We will choose a situation from the SITREP and actually build the IED ourselves. The easiest way to know how it works is to make it yourself."

To make the scenarios as realistic as possible a few of the Airmen in the shop dumpster dive for materials.

"An IED is anything in the bomber's imagination," said Sergeant Beebe, deployed from Kadena Air Base, Japan. "By thinking like the bomber and building the IEDs ourselves it adds to our level of understanding of what the enemy is using."

For each situation, the team rotates responsibilities and no IED is the same, said Airman Few, deployed from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D.

"We'll actually do a mock up response where one of us is the team chief and we'll actually roll out with our trailer, do the entire response and then we go back and debrief to figure out what could have been done better," he said.

"(Training is) a constant process," Airman Few said. "It's to keep us sharp and make sure we're not forgetting stuff when we're down range in the (middle of a situation) because it's the simple steps that are going to kill you."

In the five years Airman Few has been in the Air Force, three years in total were spent training. Since June, he has spent more than half of his time training.

Training is the cornerstone of their success and it shows.

"It's a pretty cool feeling when you arrive on a scene and your presence calms other people down," Sergeant Beebe said. "Whenever you're called to go to work you know you're potentially saving a life. In Iraq, when you respond to an IED during a convoy you know you saved at least five Soldiers in a (high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle) because they didn't get killed and their vehicle didn't get blown up."