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Protecting the Force with Their Lives

Courtesy Photo | Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians Sgt. Christopher Taul (left) and Sfc....... read more read more

08.30.2005

Courtesy Story

DVIDS Hub

By Army Sgt. Matthew Acosta
22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

For years, Iraq has been the center of many political, ethnic and military battles by both domestic origin and foreign countries. The constant state of unrest and military-like aggression has left Iraq with an underlying problem not easily recognized by the naked eye.

Years of constant military actions and maneuvers has lead to a build-up of ammunition supply depots and storage facilities. Over the years, these facilities, some abandon, have fallen into the hands of warring tribal sects, black-market sales men and terrorists.

Thousands of tons of weapons, munitions and landmines remain unaccounted for, strewn about the country; some lost, some purposefully hidden in weapons caches" waiting to be used for attacks by insurgents.

Since the war in Iraq started, these "missing" weapons and munitions have begun to show their presence.

These weapons are not only being used in attacks on Coalition forces, insurgents are using them in attacks against their own people placing improvised explosive devices and vehicle borne improvised explosive devices in populated areas in order to derail the forward progress of the "new Iraq."

Iraqi political leaders, Iraqi Military and Police forces as well as innocent civilians have been targeted and killed by insurgents.

Since the surfacing of these explosives, the need for safe disposal or neutralization of these weapons has been the duty of specialized skilled military personnel.

Both Army and Air Force Explosive ordnance disposal units have been tasked with diffusing and disposal of these weapons and explosives when encountered or confiscated by Coalition Forces.

Airmen assigned to the 506th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron stationed in Kirkuk, Iraq, are responsible for a large portion of EOD calls in Iraq.

"Out of all the EOD units in Iraq, our unit is responsible for the largest area," said Air Force Technical Sgt. Steven Stillings, EOD technician, 506th ECES, Task Force Liberty.

Since the unit's arrival in country, its technicians have responded to many calls, sometimes working in 24-hour shifts.

"There are some days where we're out all night on several IED calls and we get back to the FOB in time for breakfast, only to go back out again on another IED call, or have to go out to a weapons cache that was found," said Stillings.

Then there are time the unit responds to a call that turns out to be a cache of non-lethal rubbish.

"Trash piles, mounds of dirt and parked cars have all been suspect of containing explosives placed by insurgents, and in either case must be approached with caution," said Stillings. "We can spend a few hours at a scene, and get nothing, just garbage; something someone dumped during the night. Then there are calls where we're there just an hour or so and come away with a few artillery rounds."

EOD units have several options to neutralize the threat of explosives when encountering them. While EOD units in one area of Iraq may deal mostly with IEDs or unexploded ordnance units in other areas need to be prepared to deal with the daily threat from VBIEDs; vehicles loaded with ordnance used to drive close to a target before detonation.

The 761st Ordnance Company EOD stationed in Tikrit, Iraq, can get several calls a day, many of them being VBIEDs.

"We get everything from UXO calls on post to known IED sites or VBIEDs abandoned or discovered on the side of the road in town," said Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Robar, EOD team leader, 761st Ordnance Company EOD, Task Force Liberty.

As with any EOD unit, anytime the team responds to a call, they need to be prepared for anything. These specialized units are equipped with an array advanced tools ranging from specialized Gerber folding knifes to high-tech robots to help disarm any potential threat.

"We use the Talon EOD robot to search and inspect suspected IED and VBIED sites," Sgt. Christopher Taul, EOD technician, 761st Ordnance Co. EOD. "While keeping a stand-off distance, we can visually inspect the threat area through several cameras mounted on the robot's arms."

"The Talon allows our team members to disarm potential threats without exposing anyone to the dangers inherent in IED or other explosives," said Spc. Joseph Bryant, EOD technician, 761st Ordnance Co. EOD.

With this stand-off ability, the unit can neutralize a threat by disarming it or by destroying it after civilians have been evacuated, without being in harm's way.

Although proven a valuable tool for these units, they are not immune to problems.

"We can use the robot to disarm or detonate the IED or if a problem arises we can do it the old fashion way," said Airman 1st Class Anthony Sennhenn, EOD Tech, 506th ECES. "Walk up in a bomb suit and do it by hand."

Taul said that sometimes the robots don't work out well and at times they may encounter radio signal interference making controlling the robot difficult, or simply they just break down from frequent use.

He said they also might not be able to see into certain areas like the trunk of the car or under the hood, so using the robot, they place a low power "water charge" in the vehicle to blast open the doors, trunk and hood of the vehicle to gain visual access.

"We place a small charge of explosives with bottles of water around it to blow open the vehicle; it blows the doors, trunk, hood and sometimes even the roof gets peeled back," said Taul. "This makes the vehicle easier to work with because we can now deploy the robot back to the scene to inspect the areas we couldn't see before as we search for the bomb."

Once the vehicle is "opened-up" the EOD team leader decides if the vehicle should be blown in place or if the explosive device could be dismantles on site with either the robot or manually.

"There are times when (the team leader) has to get into the bomb suit to approach the bomb," Taul said. "You never want to have to do that; that's man-on-target for the insurgents, but sometimes there's no other way."

"You can replace a robot easily," Bryant said, "but you can't replace a team leader, a friend."

Unexploded IEDs or VBIEDs can provide the EOD technicians with valuable information and may lead to the apprehension of insurgents who may have built or set it in place.

"If we can disarm it (IED or VBIED) then we can walk away with a lot of intelligence about the person who built it and their abilities, what materials they used and what country the ordnance came from," Taul said. "It helps us to understand the nature of the beast and how to defeat it."

In the event an explosive device detonates, the team is dispatched to investigate the scene to determine what type of explosives were used and how they were put together and placed within the vehicle.

"Part of our mission is the blast analysis investigation," said Robar. "We check the crater size and depth to figure out what size explosive was used and see if we can determine how it was put together to gauge the insurgent's abilities."

According to Robar, some insurgents are quite proficient in their trade; however, with the technological advancements in the ordnance trade, EOD units combined with American and Iraqi Army units, are keeping the insurgency from gaining the upper hand and controlling supply routes or intimidating the local civilians.

With every EOD call, important intelligence is gathered on the enemy, making Coalition Forces safer and bringing them closer to those who plant explosives targeting military, government and local officials as well as innocent civilians.

"We protect the force with out lives," Bryant said. "It's a dangerous job, but we love it."