By Spc. Crista M. Birmingham
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A pattern of International firearms grace the wall of the Australian Explosive Ordnance Device Team's headquarters. Outside, a vast array of ordinance devices are meticulously displayed.
Part of the Australian Defense Force, the team assists U.S. forces in the effort to clear the greater Baghdad area of unexploded ordinance. "When guys go and do raids, whatever they find they bring to us to dispose of," Sgt. Jonathon "Gus" Guthrie, one of the team of three, said. "But this is just a small part of what we do."
Along with the dangers of UXO's, another potential hazard is the language barrier, according to Guthrie. "Probably one of the most challenging things was trying to get across the language barrier," Burgess said. "We had an interpreter as well, but he could be elsewhere sometimes when you're trying to get the message across to some locals, so we've all picked up a smattering of Arabic.
"The three all agreed that the most important Arabic they had to communicate was the equivalent of the phrase "Don't Touch!"
"The number of kids that have been killed by mines they were playing with and they still don't realize that they're not toys," Burgess said. Once a substantial amount of UXOs are collected, the team plans a mass disposal."We've got an ammunition collection. Any type of explosive ordnance that's handed in that's safe to move, we dispose of," said Sgt. Pete Burgess, EOD team leader. "We collect it at a central point, and when we get enough of it, we'll ship it off to a range and dispose of it.""We also made our own demolitions pit only for small quantities," Cpl. Benjamin Hartigan said.
"So if something isn't safe to transport out to our primary demolitions range, we destroy it in the pit," The team revels in challenges presented by their job. They even train by exercising in the desert heat, going on runs during the hotter parts of the afternoon.
"We enjoy what we do, we came over here to work, even if we have to work 20 hours a day, or a 14-hour day, in [122 degrees F] heat," Burgess said.The EOD team uses the ordnance display outside their EOD cell for identification. The inside display of confiscated weapons is used primarily as a training guide.
"It gives us an idea of the type of weapons that are in the surrounding countries, so we can clear them, and there's no doubt in our minds how to use them, should we ever need to. Of course, it makes for a nice weapon wall in the meantime," said Burgess.Although the members of the team are engineers, they are part of the Australian Security Detachment. During this deployment, the EOD team directly supports Coalition Forces.
"We would normally be situated with [the Sec. Det], but for the last two rotations, the Australian EOD element has been situated with 3rd BCT [Brigade Combat Team]," Burgess said. As the only Australian EOD Team in Iraq, they are no different than American EOD teams, except in sense of humor. "It's no different than working with a different branch of our Army, except they're really easygoing and easy to work with," said Staff Sgt. Theodore Jubinville, C. Company, 8th Engineers, 1st Cavalry Div. "Not that our guys aren't, but [the Australians] relieve a lot of the tension, even with handling hazardous material," he said.
Jubinville leads an escort team that works as the Australian's primary security, convoying the Australians to their demolition sites. "They joke with us, but when they do their job, they perform it perfectly," he said."The 8th Engineers supply us with a security team when we go out, they look after us while we're doing our job within that quarter, and they're a good bunch of boys," Burgess said. The EOD team works with the American Soldier escorts, but unless a task is extremely large, they do not work with American EOD. "We receive tasking from the [3rd Brigade combat Team] as normal EOD elements would," Burgess said.
"In a manner, an EOD team is tasked exclusively on an [Unexploded Ordnance] response. If we were doing something, say the demolitions, and there were a lot of explosives to get rid of, then yes, you would need some help," he said.The only ordnance the Australians are not authorized to handle is Improvised Explosive Devices."Anything that's indicative of an IED, if the information comes through, we just don't conduct that mission. It just gets passed straight to the Americans," Burgess said.
The task is handed to the Clearance Diving Team, a U.S. Navy team working EOD in Iraq, he said. "It's the government's way of keeping us out of that dangerous a situation," he said. In addition to the EOD training, Australian EOD soldiers are required to be trained engineers. "We're EOD, but we're actually engineers, so we wear a number of hats," Guthrie said, exposing his EOD badge. The EOD Badge, worn on the sleeve of the uniform, depicts a bomb on a scarlet oval background. In order to wear this crest, one must be a member of the Royal Australian Engineers. "If you're [Australian] EOD, you're very qualified," Burgess said.
Their first two months in-country, the team worked on a large-scale Iraqi ammunition collection point."There were about twenty-thousand-plus items; everything from 1.5 mm projectiles up to 23 mm projectiles," Burgess said. "There are so many of them. We'll go out, throw rocks out, and then pick them up," he joked.
"We cleared everything within that area," Guthrie pointed out. "All the leftover large metal items, the charger bodies and what are stored out there in a rubbish area. We actually had some local blacksmiths come in and cut in the middle and sift through. So any scrap metal got put out there for them to use," Guthrie said. "We always had 30 [Iraqis], and we set them up like a platoon. So we had a three section commanders, and ten workers per section," Burgess said. "These men had been trained in identification and handling of some of the items of ordinance in that area. On top of that, we"d have another ten locals that were untrained, two dump trucks, in some cases a crane, plus two armored dozers, four bobcats, as well as the blacksmith cutters, who are all local workers so there's a hype of activity."
Even with the minimal amount of Arabic and English spoken between the Australians and the Iraqi workers, the job was accomplished. According to the Aussies, language barriers exist not just with speakers of Arabic, but also with some speakers of English. "We enjoy the language barriers with the Americans as well. We taught them some Aussie slang," Burgess said. "We say G"day Mate, and they say Hoo-Ah in return."
"The [U.S.] Army doesn't always understand our sarcasm, but Iraqi, American, or Australian, we're all people," he said. As part of the Coalition Forces efforts to rebuild Iraq, the Australian EOD Team is tasked to deplete things that kill and maim. The Australian EOD team's confidence in their abilities combined with their down under jocularity help them enjoy accomplishing an otherwise dangerous and stressful mission.
| Date Taken: | 08.25.2004 |
| Date Posted: | 08.25.2004 11:57 |
| Story ID: | 266 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 107 |
| Downloads: | 28 |
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