Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Kelvin Ringold | Staff Sgt. Logan Vangen, 75th EOD Company, finishes the final improvements to his...... read more read more
FORT HOOD, Texas - A team from the 752nd Ordnance Company took top honors as winners of the Fort Hood Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team of the Year competition, which began April 27 and ended Friday.
Three-Soldier teams representing companies from the 79th Ordnance Disposal Battalion went head-to-head as they competed for this year’s trophy. A team from 47th Ordnance Company, 797th Ordnance Company, and two from 75th Ordnance Company, also competed to see which team would walk away with bragging rights.
Each team rotated through five situation-based stations on Days 1, 2 and 4. Day 1 scenarios simulated possible threats during homeland missions, while Day 2 and Day 4 scenarios were deployment-based.
“Each observer coach was tasked with providing a scenario that replicates either a real incident or a possible incident,” said 1st Lt. Jonathan Graves, 79th EOD Bn.
In addition to being tested on their technical proficiency, the teams were also challenged on the total Soldier concept, which included the Army Physical Fitness Test, a ruck march and weapons qualifications.
Even though there can only be one winning team, the experience the Soldiers received was priceless.
“The Soldiers were able to get great training running 15 incidents and marksmanship in four days,” explained Master Sgt. Darrel White, 79th EOD Company. “They don’t get that anywhere else.”
During a suspicious package scenario on the first day, Sgt. Ian Halliburton, team leader, 752nd EOD Co., and his team consisting of Sgt. Matthew Carr and Spc. Jackie Gibson, had to first maneuver their Talon EOD robot remotely down the street to an abandoned house in Chaffee Village.
After the robot was in position, Halliburton received help putting on his bomb disposal suit from his team members, and he walked toward the house, portable X-ray in hand.
After approximately 20 minutes of setting up his equipment and determining there was no danger, he was able to walk back to his team and finally remove his suit.
The suit weighs approximately 80 pounds, plus the added weight of the helmet. After having the suit on for almost an hour, Halliburton was more than ready to take it off.
“This suit is like a 80-pound sauna,” Halliburton said.
During the next day of the competition, teams were at the Cold Springs demolition range down East Range Road rotating through stations around the rugged terrain.
After encountering oversized possible unexploded ordnance in a deserted field, Staff Sgt. Logan Vangen, team leader, 75th EOD Company, and his team had to construct a way to lift the more-than-400-pound ordnance from the ground and onto their vehicle by constructing a pulley system.
“I have never done this as a real-life situation,” Vangen said. “I do remember going through it in (Advanced Individual Training) though.”
After a long week of events, the teams put on a show for a crowd of observers Friday on Sadowski Field.
First flying in on helicopters, the teams then demonstrated their ability to use their EOD de-armer tool to simulate detonating ordnance.
In the beginning, 47th EOD Company had control of the competition, with 75th EOD Company running neck and neck with them.
During the second set of training scenarios, however, things all started to come together for Halliburton’s team, and they managed to finish the competition with 798 points out of 1,000 to 47th’s 787 points, winning by a narrow 11-point margin.
“We started off a little bit slow,” Halliburton said. “(On) Day 2, we got into the groove as things picked up and did extremely well on the problems there. Once we moved into dismount problems, I think that’s one of our golden areas. I think we were able to catch up on points or just get a little bit ahead so that we were able to come away with the win.”
Although this was Halliburton and Gibson’s first time in the competition, Carr was a little more seasoned.
“This is my second year doing it,” Carr said. “I was on the winning team from last year that moved onto Fort Irwin, (California).”
The competition was a great experience for the team, and Halliburton was excited when asked if the performance exceeded expectations.
“I absolutely think so,” Halliburton said. “On Day 2 and Day 4, I think we knocked it out of the park. I was extremely happy with the way we performed.”
The team will now move on to the group level competition in June at Fort Irwin, Calif., and move one step closer to competing at the Department of the Army competition and earning the title of Army EOD Team of the Year.
“We’ll just continue to train up on the basic skills,” Halliburton said, “because there are things you forget that you put in the back of your mind; then when you are at a problem, you need to be able to pull it back.”
| Date Taken: | 05.07.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 05.07.2015 11:14 |
| Story ID: | 162562 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 257 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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