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Joint EOD teams train for any possibility

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Joshua King
  • Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  The 17,000 acres of ranges at JB MDL are, dare I say, explosive. On any given day you can hear small arms fire, the BOOM of a howitzer or even the BANG of bomb training.

Adding to the noise, the joint base hosted a three-week improvised explosive device training, March 14-31. Air Force and Marine Corps explosive ordinance disposal technicians from Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, JB MDL, New Jersey and Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia.

The first two weeks involved classroom instruction and the final week was held out on the ranges for practical application of concepts.

"I learned new techniques and I'm excited to go back to my unit and show the guys there how to do them," said Staff Sgt. Johny Hargrove, 436th Civil Engineer Squadron explosive ordinance disposal craftsman, stationed at Dover AFB.

Training areas are set up throughout the range complex, designed to mimic real-world conditions. Some are set up as small villages, towns or deployed bases, while others have open areas designed for land navigation.

The village used for this training exercise was cold, with winds gusting through empty streets while the team worked into the night on the second day of training. Early the next morning, they continued the course on a neighboring range with a simulated hotel in the middle of a large-open area.

EOD technicians were divided into eight teams and had to solve problems in a variety of locations, with scenarios based on actual events.

In a church, a technician remotely drove a large robot up the steps to a body with an unexploded suicide vest. The team on the train was simultaneously setting up an x-ray to determine what was in an old, rusty paint can.

In some of these situations they would be able to solve all or some of the problem with their equipment. The EOD members have an arsenal of multi-purpose remote-controlled robots to make explosives disposal safer. Some are small and fast, with only cameras, others large with claws to grab and manipulate items. In other scenarios they had to put on the 75-pound bomb suit and work on it by hand.

In the hotel, a technician approached a cabinet in a darkly lit room where they had received a report of a possible IED. He opened the door, shined a light inside and began examining the IED when a loud WHINE filled the room startling everyone, including the EOD member right next to the device.

The instructors placed alarms in the ordnance to let the technician working the problem know if they did something wrong while trying to mitigate the issue. They would be told why the siren went off and then were able to continue solving the riddle in front of them.

When the technicians were done disarming the IED or makeshift bomb from their scenario they would practice disposing of it. It would be wrapped in detonation cord, taken to a safe distance and blown up with a loud SNAP or BANG heard throughout the area.

All problems faced during the training were modeled after problems that have been faced in the past, including what has been learned over 15 years of war in Southwest Asia.

"This training has been very realistic," added Hargrove. "It has penalties so we're not just running through the scenarios. If we do something wrong we find out immediately."

Like many career fields, an EOD team member may deploy with other technicians from any other base around the world. In the training, each team was comprised of members from different units to familiarize them with working alongside people they don't interact with on a daily basis.

"This training is similar to how we would stage our deployment packages," said Staff Sgt. Adam Usher, 87th Civil Engineer Squadron explosive ordinance disposal training NCOIC. "We meet up for a training course and then we move into country as a team with a short period to bond."

Each day of training on the ranges would end with the collection and disposal of any unused explosive material, mostly detonation cord and blasting caps, the training leaders would pile it all together and put it far off on the range, make the walk back to a safe distance with everyone else before shouting;

"Fire in the hole, fire in the hole, fire in the hole."