EFP Discovery

SOUTHWEST ASIA--Tech. Sgt. Ben Martin, 887th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, hands a thank you gift to a young Iraqi girl as an 887th ESFS translator looks on Sept. 18, 2009. The girl found and reported an explosively formed penetrator, or EFP, in an area outside of Camp Bucca, Iraq, that the 887th ESFS regularly patrols. (U.S. Air Force/Courtesy Photo)

887th ESFS thanks Iraqi family for life-saving assist

Published Sept. 24, 2009
By Capt. Larry van der Oord
386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Several members of the 887th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron delivered a new generator, a care package filled with baked goods, and a heart-felt thank you to a young Iraqi girl and her family near Camp Bucca, Iraq, Sept. 18.

The girl was playing with a group of friends when she noticed something strange sticking out of a nearby mound of dirt marked with wet mud. She quickly told her father, a local farmer, who immediately notified the local Iraqi Highway Patrol.

The IHP dispatched an Iraqi explosive ordinance disposal unit to the site where they uncovered an explosively formed penetrator, or EFP. An EFP is an improvised explosive device designed to directly penetrate armor and release shrapnel in all directions. The EOD team dug up the device and disassembled it, and the 887th ESFS was on scene to provide security.

"EFPs are the most deadly roadside bombs that we face," said Maj. Larry Wood, 887th ESFS commander. "They can be powerful enough to destroy a U.S. Army Abrams battle tank."

There's no telling how many lives might have been lost if the EFP was detonated when 887th ESFS members passed by during one of their regular patrols in the area, said Major Wood.

In way of thanks for the life-saving discovery, the 887th ESFS coordinated with the local Army Civil Military Operations liaison to find out what kind of assistance they could offer the family.

"We really wanted to show our appreciation for what this little girl did," said Major Wood. "Giving them the generator was the least we could do. It was just our way of saying thank you for preventing something that could have been devastating."