Courtesy Photo | Uptown, Mass., native Capt. Cynthia Garceau, a platoon leader with the 761st Explosive...... read more read more
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By Staff Sgt. W. Wayne Marlow
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division Public Affairs
FORWARD OPERATING BASE RUSTAMIYAH, Iraq – After three months of training, some Iraqi explosive ordnance detachment troops are almost ready to operate independently.
Soldiers of the U.S. Army's 761st Explosive Ordnance Detachment have mentored members of the 1st Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division on the particulars of finding and safely detonating explosive devices. The Iraqi soldiers are gradually completing a checklist of items that, when finished, will enable them to stand on their own.
Capt. Cynthia Garceau of Uptown, Mass., a platoon leader for the 761st, said the Iraqis have come a long way in three months of training.
"They're way ahead of where we thought they would be," she said. "They're very receptive to all the training and all the information we put out. We have their undivided attention. They're very hard workers."
The Iraqis adapted well to the methodical instruction methods, Garceau added.
"It goes through crawl, walk, and run phases," she said. "First, we told them what ordnance identification was about. Then we went through the basics of identification, evacuation, and security, and slowly built them up to running a full-scale operation."
And as the Iraqis soldiers progress, Garceau and her Soldiers continue to hammer home the fundamentals.
"We show them, then say, 'Now you try it and set it up,' and we just make little corrections here and there. We're teaching new stuff out but still drilling in what was already taught them," she said.
The Iraqis ran their first operation in June, with the U.S. along as observers only. "It was text book," Garceau said. "Everything we taught them...they did exactly as we would have done it."
In late July, the Iraqis got rid of almost 100 pieces of unexploded ordnance in a controlled detonation, and Garceau praised their performance.
"That was a good one," she said. "The next step is turn over a mission to them, and the long-term goal is to turn over the entire mission. We have a checklist of tasks for them to be trained on, and we'll continue down that list."
Staff Sgt. Joseph Munoz, a platoon sergeant from Edinburg, Texas, agreed that the Iraqis are showing steady progress. He cited the multi-ordnance controlled detonation as an example.
"It was successful," he said. "We've done small-scale demo shots with them but nothing of this size. It went very well. They have their own EOD school, which you go through four levels before graduating. Two of they guys here have graduated and are out here training the younger guys. Having that experience really pays off."
If they continue at their current pace, the Iraqis could be ready to operate independently by the end of September, according to Munoz.
"In the next 45 days, we should have them operational," he said.
In fact, there's one area they greatly exceed the Americans. The two EOD teams meet each Thursday for soccer and the Iraqis are undefeated.
"They beat us," Garceau said, "and they don't even have their shoes on."
| Date Taken: | 08.03.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 08.03.2007 09:03 |
| Story ID: | 11619 |
| Location: | RUSTAMIYAH, IQ |
| Web Views: | 609 |
| Downloads: | 424 |
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