Posted on 01/28/2008 4:45:23 PM PST by SandRat
ALTAQADDUM, Iraq (Jan. 26, 2008) -- It was 11:30 a.m. on March 29, 2003. Three U.S. Army soldiers with the 3rd Infantry Division were operating a checkpoint on Iraq’s Highway 9 in Najaf when an orange and white taxicab pulled over to the shoulder of the road to be searched. The soldiers went through the normal procedures. No one would ever know if they noticed something strange about the driver, only that he would detonate 100 pounds of C-4 explosive in his trunk, killing himself, the soldiers and a passing bicyclist.
The explosion would become a milestone in modern warfare similar to that of the first muzzle flash of a machine gun in World War I. It was an explosion that would change how the United States fought the Global War on Terrorism and turn three simple letters, I-E-D, into a powerful new threat.
The military’s response to the improvised explosive device was three more letters: E-O-D, or explosive ordnance disposal, a small group of tactical specialists who are walking dictionaries on explosives of all sorts. Since that initial lethal blast, explosive ordnance disposal personnel in Iraq collectively average 900 IED finds each week, with numbers reaching more than 1,300 during the third week of June 2007, according to Department of Defense statistics. As a result of increased stability in the wake of the troop surge earlier this year, those numbers have declined to roughly 600 as of the end of 2007.
Besides clearing roadside bombs and destroying discovered weapons caches, EOD personnel also teach Marines how to detect and avoid IED’s while “outside-the-wire.”
The modern day explosive ordnance disposal technicians are considered by some to be among the bravest and brightest the military has to offer.
In the Marine Corps, they are an all-volunteer group made up of Marines who have left a previous military occupational specialty in favor of a position in one of the most dangerous jobs available to them. But before being accepted, applicants must first be interviewed and recommended by an EOD officer, and must meet certain academic requirements. Those who qualify then go on to attend seven months of initial training at the Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal School located at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
“They are doing a job very few are willing to do,” according to Capt. Timothy Callahan, the commanding officer of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company, 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward).
NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART
“The reality just wasn’t there,” said Master Sgt. Brent Loechler, describing his previous job in the infantry. This may seem like an odd statement to some considering the job Marine Corps rifleman do today, but the Corps was not always in a full-scale war.
According to Loechler, when he first came in the Marine Corps as a rifleman, training consisted of firing blanks and conducting squad assaults.
Then, on a grenade range at Marine Corps Base Okinawa, Japan, he saw Marines who got to train with live ordnance all the time.
“They were dealing with something that could actually kill them,” Loechler, explained. “You had that sense of alertness, that sense that everyday can be your last if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
That is when Loechler made the decision to become an explosive ordnance disposal technician, like a select few in the past.
The type of Marines who become EOD techs are not superhuman and aren’t adrenaline junkies, said Capt. Timothy Callahan. They are strong, confident individuals who just want to do their part in making the world a safer and better place.
“High school kids; just like everyone else who comes in the Marine Corps who (got) tired of their MOS and wanted to make a tangible difference,” the Sauquoit, N.Y., native explained.
These are the qualities Callahan says he saw in EOD personnel before he made the switch.
“They were straight shooters and they carried themselves well. That kind of thing,” Callahan said. “That’s when I said, ‘I want to do what you do.’”
JUST ANOTHER DAY ON THE JOB
On Iraq’s battlefield, encountering an IED is not exclusive to just EOD technicians.
According to Loechler, the ones initially exposing themselves to it are the discoverers: the engineers, truck drivers and infantryman on the roads daily. “I am not the lead vehicle in the convoy or the foot patrol in the city seeking these items out,” Loechler explained. “They are the ones who get intimately close to identify the hazard.”
Petty Officer 2nd Class Jeffery King is a Navy EOD technician who operates in northern Anbar Province as part of a joint Navy and Marine Corps team. He and his coworkers respond to calls of suspected IEDs. Once on site, they rely on a mix of both procedure and instinct. Modern technology such as robots and electronic countermeasures can help survey and destroy possible dangers but there are rare instances when an EOD technician is required to get up close and personal with an IED.
“There are certain situations where it is life and death and EOD techs have to put themselves ahead of what the threat is and do a manual approach,” Loechler said. Operating in small, highly trained teams on forward operating bases can, at times, make some calls more difficult than others.
“When you have to do a post blast (assessment) and then you see a guy who gets banged up from an IED who you have known a couple of months, that can be pretty hard to see,” explained King, a West Palm Beach, Fla., native. Although the job can be difficult, King said that one thought in particular helps him and others face the daily challenges of being an EOD technician.
“I like going out and saving lives,” said King.
Have a friend who volunteered, his work was cut out for him when he first took a look at those -50 level nuclear manuals in nuclear school.
My son was Army EOD. He now does it for private companies that contract with the government. I pray for all who are still doing this in the military.
Well. I know a lot of EOD guys. It's a particular personality type. Very knowledgeable and careful around the ordnance; but they are cowboys. Big guys with big personalities, usually. You wouldn't want to get in a bar fight with them. They do the work of the Lord for our soldiers.
Brave bump to these pros.
Be that as it may, EOD has dined at my table, displays impeccable manners, and resides in a place that is near and dear place to my ♥
Squantos:
Figured you’d be interested in this
Da madman
Thanks MM !
Great read.......I miss the career field. Retired now doing it for better money for a goobermint agency now as a civy contractor.
Still wear the master blaster crab and am proud that the current crop of techs is keeping the profession professional.
Military is the lone source of EOD techs......You see anyone wearing the EOD crab you know they are a graduate of the old NAVSCHOOLEOD at Indianhead MD or Eglin AFB FL where washout rates are very very high. Of my class of 25 starting I graduated with only two others surviving the course. Toughest school I ever attended. Instructors try and kill you in training so ya don’t die in the field. You get past them only then do you have to pass muster in your assigned unit with other experienced techs.
All intended to keep you on your game and alive.
This crop of EOD techs in service now are the best IMO. They are getting so much experience. Experience that is impossible too teach. Experience they will pass on to those that follow em in this career field.
Thanks again for the ping !
Stay safe !
Roger that-the EOD techs I knew in the service were cool customers that knew how to have fun when they could
Great instructors too.
Oh yeah ....we were one of the exclusive few allowed to have our our bar in our shop. I am told PC has set in for the most part yet there are traces of those who partied hard and worked harder back when men were men and sheep were afraid etc........:o)
When the senior NCO in the shop determined that work was complete for the day he rang the bell and it was Oh Beer Thirty !
Stay Safe !!
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