Shaffer
04-05-05, 05:17 PM
Marines from Combat Logistics Battalion 8 and 8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2d Force Service Support Group (Forward), responded to 15 separate weapons cache sites approximately 12 km southeast of Camp Fallujah March 29.
This is one of the largest cache sites uncovered since II Marine Expeditionary Force assumed command of Iraq’s Al Anbar Province from I MEF. Items seized included 24 - 82 mm mortars, 10 -130 mm High Explosive warheads, six - 120 mm mortars and more than 30 rocket propelled grenades, as well as components to create a bomb.
The items containing explosives were destroyed on-scene and the Marines confiscated pictures of ordnance, a map of the area, books on weapons systems, photographs of missiles, and personal journals, to use for intelligence gathering purposes.
“This has been one of the larger cache sites uncovered since our unit arrived in theater,” said Staff Sgt. Matthew D. Small, explosive ordnance team leader with 8th ESB and attached to CLB - 8, “We found optical equipment, Improvised Explosive Device making material, documentation and maps which will aid the intelligence community in better understanding our enemy and their capabilities, develop procedures that counter insurgency and perhaps, uncover more caches. It may be a slow process, but daily we are finding ordnance that is no longer in the hands of insurgents.”
Explosive ordnance disposal teams and military police squads work together and conduct counter-IED operations, demolition and unexploded ordnance recovery operations. The MPs provide security for all EOD response calls in the area of operations, which allows the EOD team to concentrate on the mission.
According to Lance Cpl. Selvyn O. Wyatt III, a military policeman with CLB - 8, EOD teams and MPs have close working relationships, and he appreciates what EOD does. “It is dangerous for us and EOD, but it is good to go out there because we see the impact and difference it makes. We are stopping the insurgents from completing their missions and giving someone a chance to go home, ” said the Germantown, Md. native, who joined the Marine Corps in July 2003.
Navy and Marine Corps EOD teams have been integrated during this deployment, allowing Navy detachments the opportunity to gain knowledge in more land based ordnance while helping to fill the necessity for EOD technicians operating in the area of operations, said Small.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Ryan A. Reese, an explosive ordnance technician with 8th ESB and Bowie, Md. native, said, “It makes me feel like we are getting something accomplished over here and that our job helps keep the guys who are out there everyday on patrol safer.”
This was not the joint service team’s first response to a weapons cache, but it was the first large cache they have worked on as a team, said Small, a Richlands, N.C. native. The unexploded ordnance and cache calls, we respond to are difficult to prepare for because we do not know what or how much we are going to discover, Small said.
“We were told there were six to seven unexploded ordnance found by the engineers attached to 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, little did we know, we were going to spend six hours digging up ordnance items, IED materials and intelligence information,” said Small, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom II, “As a three-man team we adapt to the situation, plan accordingly, and that’s what makes the job fun.”
The Marines found more than a hundred IED components, including batteries, switches and detonators. “Every IED component found means one less IED that can be made,” said Small, “I’d like to say I think we mitigated the threat of at least a couple of IEDs being constructed.”
This is one of the largest cache sites uncovered since II Marine Expeditionary Force assumed command of Iraq’s Al Anbar Province from I MEF. Items seized included 24 - 82 mm mortars, 10 -130 mm High Explosive warheads, six - 120 mm mortars and more than 30 rocket propelled grenades, as well as components to create a bomb.
The items containing explosives were destroyed on-scene and the Marines confiscated pictures of ordnance, a map of the area, books on weapons systems, photographs of missiles, and personal journals, to use for intelligence gathering purposes.
“This has been one of the larger cache sites uncovered since our unit arrived in theater,” said Staff Sgt. Matthew D. Small, explosive ordnance team leader with 8th ESB and attached to CLB - 8, “We found optical equipment, Improvised Explosive Device making material, documentation and maps which will aid the intelligence community in better understanding our enemy and their capabilities, develop procedures that counter insurgency and perhaps, uncover more caches. It may be a slow process, but daily we are finding ordnance that is no longer in the hands of insurgents.”
Explosive ordnance disposal teams and military police squads work together and conduct counter-IED operations, demolition and unexploded ordnance recovery operations. The MPs provide security for all EOD response calls in the area of operations, which allows the EOD team to concentrate on the mission.
According to Lance Cpl. Selvyn O. Wyatt III, a military policeman with CLB - 8, EOD teams and MPs have close working relationships, and he appreciates what EOD does. “It is dangerous for us and EOD, but it is good to go out there because we see the impact and difference it makes. We are stopping the insurgents from completing their missions and giving someone a chance to go home, ” said the Germantown, Md. native, who joined the Marine Corps in July 2003.
Navy and Marine Corps EOD teams have been integrated during this deployment, allowing Navy detachments the opportunity to gain knowledge in more land based ordnance while helping to fill the necessity for EOD technicians operating in the area of operations, said Small.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Ryan A. Reese, an explosive ordnance technician with 8th ESB and Bowie, Md. native, said, “It makes me feel like we are getting something accomplished over here and that our job helps keep the guys who are out there everyday on patrol safer.”
This was not the joint service team’s first response to a weapons cache, but it was the first large cache they have worked on as a team, said Small, a Richlands, N.C. native. The unexploded ordnance and cache calls, we respond to are difficult to prepare for because we do not know what or how much we are going to discover, Small said.
“We were told there were six to seven unexploded ordnance found by the engineers attached to 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, little did we know, we were going to spend six hours digging up ordnance items, IED materials and intelligence information,” said Small, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom II, “As a three-man team we adapt to the situation, plan accordingly, and that’s what makes the job fun.”
The Marines found more than a hundred IED components, including batteries, switches and detonators. “Every IED component found means one less IED that can be made,” said Small, “I’d like to say I think we mitigated the threat of at least a couple of IEDs being constructed.”