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"Greater love hath no man than this; that a man lay down his life for his friends," John 15:13 This quotation is inscribed on a plaque that rests on a tri-faced structure within the air station's Combined Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit building. Besides the plaque, the wall is covered in portraits of Marines, 35 in all. The first portrait is of Gunnery Sgt. Michael Clark, the last of Gunnery Sgt. Justin Schmalstieg. All the photos show Marines in either full combat gear or a candid portrait in civilian attire. There is not an official photo in the whole bunch, as...

An inside look at the Pentagon's inadequate response to the IED threat in Iraq. "Between the increase in armor and the changes in tactics, techniques and procedures that we've employed, the number of attacks . . . that have been effective has gone down, and the number of casualties per effective attack has gone down." --General Peter Pace Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff November 2005 GENERAL PETER PACE issued that statement last November in response to an inquiry about the Pentagon's efforts to combat the threat of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Iraq. What General Pace did not...

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The good tidings for the war on Palestinian and international terror may emanate from the laboratories of the chemistry faculty at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. If current experiments at the Technion labs are successful, Israeli security forces will soon be equipped with an efficient means of responding to explosives belts worn by Palestinian suicide bombers. The dean of the chemistry faculty, Professor Ehud Keinan, speaks about a technological breakthrough. "There are things that are still classified, but we are examining original ways of dealing with very unconventional explosives that are manufactured in the laboratories of...

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. -- A stash of decaying dynamite discovered in a storage shed is frozen and can't be safely moved until the spring thaw, authorities say. Explosives experts said Wednesday that the 500 to 700 pounds of dynamite posed no immediate danger to nearby residents and businesses - unless someone tampers with it. The information didn't pacify all the residents and business owners within 1,250 feet of the shed who learned more about the situation at a meeting with officials Wednesday. "I'm scared and I'm angry," said Shirley Cipra, who lives about 500 feet from the shed. "We've...

 Deployed EOD airmen do a bang-up job    Released: Feb. 4, 2004  By Senior Airman Lynne Neveu 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs SOUTHWEST ASIA (USAFENS) -- Having a bang-up time while deployed is not something these airman want to do.  Actually, the farther away from booms and bangs, the better. As part of the 379th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal team, airmen from Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England and Misawa Air Base, Japan, put their lives on the line and their training to the test to ensure the safety of others here and in the area...

U.S. Soldier Killed by Homemade Bomb in Iraq Wed September 10, 2003 11:34 AM ET BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An American soldier was killed in Iraq Wednesday by a homemade bomb which exploded during an attempt to detonate it safely, the U.S. military said. The soldier, killed in Baghdad Wednesday morning, was part of a bomb disposal team from the U.S. Army's First Armored Division, U.S. Central Command said in a statement. The statement said the soldier had been trying to defuse an improvised explosive device (IED), a term the military normally uses to refer to homemade bombs planted by guerrillas...