EOD is making Afghanistan safe for future

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Andrew Gates
  • 455th Expeditionary Operations Group Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (AFPN) --  Today, there are literally tons of explosive materials hidden throughout Afghanistan. Some, like land mines the former Soviet Union liberally scattered around the countryside, lie deceptively under a thin veneer of dirt. Others lie hidden away in caches of weapons carefully horded and preserved.

Whenever any of these items is uncovered around here, it is the explosive ordnance disposal team’s job to help.

“We have a lot of missions every day,” said Tech. Sgt. Perry, 455th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Flight. (For security reasons, only first names are used.) “We usually get six or seven calls.”

No matter what the call, safety is the primary priority for explosive demolition experts.

“We wear as much safety gear as we can, based on the situation, and we stay away from the explosive as long as we possibly can,” he said. “Moreover, if we can send in a remote unit -- one of our robots -- to respond to the situation, we use it.”

Most calls are for situations on the airfield which could be some discovered ordnance, or more likely, an in-flight emergency with an armed aircraft, said Staff Sgt. Thomas.

“We respond to every in-flight emergency where there is a problem with munitions [such as] a hung flare or rocket, a stuck gun or the like,” he said. “Usually the maintainers are able to take care of it, so we don’t have to do anything. But, if they can’t fix it, we’re there.”

Joint operations on the airfield are commonplace as evidenced by Army Pfc. Matthew, who recently joined Sergeant Thomas in-flight emergency response training.

“So far my experiences with joint operations have been good,” Private Matthew said. “I don’t often get the opportunity to work on an airfield and see how the Air Force EOD team responds. Once I know their procedures, I can respond to emergencies on the airfield, if needed.”

Normally, though, the Air Force takes care of the airfield, Sergeant Thomas said.

“If we can take care of the base, the Army can use their EOD experts to respond to their forward-operating bases; it’s a smart use of resources.”

The airfield team’s mission in a combat zone is much like their mission at home.

“We respond to unexploded ordnance calls the same way, although there is an increased threat here,” Sergeant Thomas said. “We do see some different aircraft. For example, we responded to an in-flight emergency on a Marine Corps Harrier a few days ago.”

They also get routinely called out when someone finds something they cannot identify.

Sergeant Perry recently investigated a spent flare which looks like a miniature rocket.

“I would rather get called out 20 times a day for something like that than to have someone pick up something that will hurt them,” he said.

Other calls are those that help keep U.S. servicemembers and the Afghan people safer such as destroying weapons stockpiles and minefields.

“We’re responsible for destroying any ordnance found in this section of Afghanistan,” Sergeant Perry said.

Often this turns out to be what are called “spoil piles” -- huge piles of explosives unearthed during de-mining operations. The unearthed mines are piled up and detonated by the explosive experts, said Sergeant Perry.

Other times, a call could require destroying weapons caches “outside the wire,’ -- any place off base.

“When the former Soviet troops were in Afghanistan, they set up huge ammunition supply points,” said Sergeant Perry. After the Soviet soldiers withdrew, these supplies were often distributed among several smaller caches.

These trips often require heavy security to protect the technicians as they head to the cache.

“Thank God for the Marine Corps,” Sergeant Perry said.

Even though these caches are normally small, sometimes the technicians find themselves with enormous jobs. At one supply point, Tech. Sgt. Michael, another EOD technician, found himself blowing up more than 10,000 pounds of explosives.

“This was part of a former ammunition supply point ... that a squad of Marines found on a patrol,” he said. “Unfortunately, I only had enough explosives to detonate about 1 percent of the material there.”

Although there is still ordnance at that point, the EOD technicians are waiting for more explosives to finish the job.

No matter what munitions are being destroyed, the resulting explosion can be impressive.

“I like it when we destroy incendiary flares,” Sergeant Michael said. “We blew up a cache of them recently, and it made a very pretty show, even a few miles away at Bagram.”

The best part of the job, though, is not the visual elements or the large explosion, said the EOD team, it is the feeling they get when they destroy a dangerous item and prevent people from getting injured.

“When you leave the base, you get thronged with children,” Sergeant Perry said. “After we finish, if we do our job right, none of them will ever get hurt here again. These kids are out playing and living in a dangerous area. I saw a child the other day who lived 20 feet from a piece of ordnance I wouldn’t want to pick up without protective gear.”