American servicemembers provide battlefield forensics

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Tim Beckham
  • U.S. Air Forces Central, Baghdad media outreach team
CAMP TROY, Iraq (AFNS) --  When an improvised explosive device is detected, most people run and take cover but the weapons intelligence team here heads to the site to start the crime scene investigation. 

The Airmen, Soldiers and Sailor of the weapons intelligence team provide counter IED intelligence through collection, analysis and tactical exploitation in support of Multinational Corps-Iraq.

"Our advisaries are out there using modified explosives and trying to find unique ways to use those weapons against Iraqis and coalition forces, so our role is to go out there and provide battlefield forensics to better defeat them and beyond that, try to stop them from ever being on the streets," said Chief Master Sgt. Kevin Touhey, the WIT superintendent.

By staying ahead of the curve, the WIT team helps U.S. and coalition forces prepare for future attacks by learning how the enemy is operating.

"The WIT team is important because we are going beyond a simple reactive mode. It brings a deeper level of intelligence and analysis to these devices. And we begin to understand what the enemy's tactics, techniques and procedures are resulting in better force protection," said Chief Touhey, who is deployed from the 93rd Intelligence Squadron at the Medina Annex in San Antonio. He is a native of Oklahoma City. 

"We (the explosive ordnance disposal team for WIT) have uncovered and captured weapons caches so we have denied the enemy access to munitions," the chief said. "We have also taken hundreds of positive IDs of bomb makers and facilitators, enabling operations to get these individuals off the streets."

As part of the Combined Joint Task Force Troy, the WIT is comprised of Air Force, Army and Navy personnel, and the joint environment is what drives the mission success, Chief Touhey said.

"It brings different experiences and different ways of approaching things," he said. "When you are dealing with something like the counter-IED fight, you have to look at it from multiple perspectives. If you get tunnel vision and only see it from one angle, you are likely to miss something, possibly a key piece of information that could break the case wide open. Having that joint flavor is key to us being able to do our job to the level we need to."

"Between the Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen, we have 25 different career fields that cover the gamut from EOD technicians to various intel specialties," he added. "We have photographers, masters at arms, infantrymen, rangers and Patriot battery technicians too." 

Not only do the Airmen in the WIT work side-by-side with other services, but also they are in the process of training the Iraqis to eventually take over the WIT altogether.

"The importance of training the Iraqis is so they can complete the mission of WIT and take it to the next level so they won't have to depend on coalition," said Maj. Christopher Li, the WIT commander. Major Li is deployed from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., and is a native of Arroyo Grande, Calif.

Chief Touhey said the challenges the WIT team have faced are the same things that have made them successful.

"If you take almost 100 people from all walks of life from 25 different backgrounds and throw them together into the streets of Iraq to do a job that is foreign to them with just a few months of training, you are going to come across a few challenges," he said. "But you know as our creed says, 'I am an American Airmen. I am a warrior,' and that's truly what the WIT Airmen are. They're outside the wire in harm's way daily. They strap on their courage every day and they go out there. That's a challenge that they have done phenomenally well." 

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