Blowing stuff up for safety’s sake

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jennifer Lindsey
  • 455th Expeditionary Operations Group Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (AFPN) --  Most people use tools to fix things, but the 455th Civil Engineer Flight’s explosive ordnance disposal team here uses its tools to blow up stuff.

To these Airmen, blowing something up is the best way to eliminate hazards and with an average of three suspected unexploded ordnance calls here daily, business is, well, booming.

Is it the adrenaline rush and the smell of freshly detonated C-4 that keeps them coming back for more? Maybe, but it is not solely the excitement of near-death experiences that keep these technicians pumped, it is knowing that they are keeping others out of danger that is the big thrill.

“We head out immediately for all calls to eliminate the hazard,” said Staff Sgt. Michael, an EOD craftsman deployed from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. (His last name is omitted for security reasons.)

However, what type of potential hazard they will face is not usually known until the team is on-site. Back at Elmendorf AFB, the majority of the calls the explosive ordnance disposal technicians field are to render safe aircraft munitions and flares that did not employ or fire correctly, and to inspect and dispose of suspicious packages. At Bagram Air Base, the team goes into the field to identify and dispose of unexploded ordnance found mostly by civil engineers and contractors doing construction projects. Most typically the UXOs are leftovers from 30 years of fighting against Soviet occupation followed by civil war.

“There’s a lot of UXOs out there,” said Master Sgt. Charmaine Regelman, the flight’s superintendent, deployed from Dover AFB, Del. “The [civil engineer] teams have to keep their eyes open for all kinds of hazards.”

The challenge lies in determining if an object is hazardous or not.

“Sometimes when people call in suspicious objects, they don’t give us enough information,” Sergeant Regelman said. “We need as much information as the caller can give us. Every UXO has an identifier.”

To help explosive ordnance disposal technicians assess whether an object is unexploded ordnance or just a piece of intimidating-looking junk, callers should offer as much detail as they can about the object without moving it and maintaining a safe distance from it. Ideally, EOD techs need the object’s exposed length, diameter, if it has wings or fins, markings or writing, the object’s color, and if it looks like it has been broken or damaged.

“If a person isn’t sure whether an object is a UXO or not, they should call us; after all, it’s our job to keep people safe,” Sergeant Michael said.