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By Spc. Justin Snyder, 354th MPAD
FORT IRWIN, Calif. – Tucked in a small crevice of a bridge overlooking the mock village of Ertebat Shar, Scott Harrison’s hoarse voice was heard through a two-way-radio.
“Just give me the signal,” he whispered, barely able to be heard due to a battle with Bronchitis.
Within a few minutes, Harrison began counting down his fingers. His voice would soon be heard loud and clear.
Three, Two, One…… Boom!
As the old saying goes, “Actions speak louder than words.”
A humvee exploded; shooting a ball of fire into the air and smoke out into the streets, setting off panic for the people of the town and a sense of urgency for Soldiers participating in the training.
“Man, there is nothing like a good explosion early in the morning,” said Harrison with a smile.
Harrison, a native of Venice, Calif., is employed by United Services of America Inc.; a company consisting of Hollywood pyrotechnic experts who work at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif., helping bring realism to Soldiers preparing for deployments.
“We are where Hollywood meets the Army,” said Harrison, a 15-year veteran in the pyro business. “We bring the effects from movies like ‘Blackhawk Down’, ‘Saving Private Ryan’, and ‘Jarhead’ and use them in a training setting for these Soldiers.”
Four times a day Harrison and his comrades put together an assortment of safe detonations to include vehicle explosions, roadside bombs, rocket propelled grenades and detonator enhanced vests for mock suicide bombers.
Most of the detonations are put together with black powder charges known as lifters. These lifters make for a real-life explosion. If they think the explosions need an extra punch, they will add a flash compound.
But all of this must be done in a safe manner.
“These explosions and ‘bombs’ are the exact type of things we would use for Hollywood stuntmen,” said Michael Petrucci, a USA Inc. employee and a native of Los Angeles. “Sometimes we pack them a little tighter for a larger effect, but the main purpose is to show realism in the safest way. Even in Hollywood we are constantly preaching safety.”
Harrison added that the explosions are a way to keep the Soldiers interested in the training and up on their toes.
“Sometimes training can get a little boring, especially if it’s just dry run after run,” said Harrison. “Throw in a little shock factor and a few explosions and guys will really start to pay attention. That’s when you get your best training.”
Like Harrison, Petrucci is a 15-year veteran working with pyrotechnics. He’s been involved in the stunts and explosions for many commercials, music videos and movies such as “Road to Perdition” and “Terminator 3.”
But a few years ago he made the jump to working with the Army to train Soldiers.
“All of the movies I’ve done and commercials and such, they were just for show,” said Petrucci. “This is the real deal for a real purpose. I’ve been working to some capacity since I was 12 years old and this job has definitely been the most rewarding.”
“I had a Marine come up to me a few years ago who told me that in his first deployment his unit lost 10 people and in his second they only lost four. He credited that (drop) to us for going through these lanes. I don’t know if we can take that credit, but it definitely makes you feel good about what you do.”
Soldiers going through the lanes were impressed with the reality of the explosions.
“I’ve never been deployed, so I really don’t know what to expect over there,” said Spc. Carlos Rodriguez, Company B, 1st Battalion, 6th Field Artillery Regiment and a native of Tulsa, Okla. “Those explosions and RPG’s were a real eye opener. I had no idea they were coming.”
Private Nicholas Shaver, a Soldier with the Co. B 1st Bn. 6th FA native of Grand Rapids, Mich., who has previously deployed, said the lanes and special effects will help with his next deployment.
“You can’t ever duplicate exactly what you might see when deployed, but these guys did a good job of trying to replicate it,” said Shaver. “If anything, they showed us how precise we need to be when searching and let people know that they need to be able work under a high stress level to stay safe.”
At the end of the day, the guys working for USA Inc. know what they are doing is important to the well-being of service members when deployed.
“I think I can speak for the whole crew when I say we are just really pleased to be helping our men and women who are serving. What we do is only a small part of it all, but it leads to a much bigger picture,” said Harrison.
As they say in Hollywood… that’s a wrap!
| Date Taken: | 08.12.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 08.12.2010 12:14 |
| Story ID: | 54426 |
| Location: | FORT IRWIN, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 76 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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