thedrifter
04-26-06, 07:35 PM
WEDNESDAY APRIL 26, 2006 Last modified: Wednesday, April 26, 2006 4:27 PM PDT
Task force seeks IED solutions
By KURT SCHAUPPNER / The Desert Trail
MCAGCC - With Improvised Explosive Devices proving to be continued threats to American service members in Iraq and Afghanistan, American military leaders have begun turning to American business people in their search for a solution to the ongoing problem.
With that in mind, the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center on Thursday, April 20, played host to several dozen community members, business people and retirees on a day-long trek through the world of Improvised Explosive Devices. The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Task Force has two more such tours planned this week.
Participants got the opportunity to talk to Marines whose job it is to defuse the devices and Marines who have been wounded by them. Over the course of several hours, they learned how the devices are made and triggered and experiences training simulations meant to ape ambushes, IED attacks and a typical Marine patrol in Iraq.
The day began at the officers' club where Brig. Gen. Douglas Stone, Combat Center commanding general, greeted those in attendance and repeated the program's ultimate goal, to find a solution to the IED problem.
The vast majority of casualties sustained by coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said, are caused by these devices which run the gamut from roadside bombs to explosive-laden vehicles.
“Several hundred of our service members have been killed by IEDs,” said Col. Raymond Liddey, who helped organize the day's activities.
Stone warned those about to take part in the tour that it would involve some loud explosions.
“If these things bother you, we can back you up 100 yards and you can stand with me,” he said.
Over the course of the day, tour participants learned, among other things, that IEDs depend on an entire system which starts with the financier, moves through the strategist and bomb maker and ends with the person who sets the bomb off.
It is this system which the task force hopes to disrupt.
“They are quick and articulate and able to change quickly,” he said. “The solution doesn't rest in a piece of technology. It is a whole system.”
From the officers' club, participants were bused to the EOD, where they were divided into four groups.
One group started its day learning about various types of IEDs and techniques used to defeat them.
Gunnery Sgt. Kelly Crawford, whose EOD - Explosive Ordnance Disposal team - has defeated 161 such devices, took participants on a walk down a path laced with simulated IEDs, explaining everything from how they are placed to how they can be detected to the difficulty in keeping roadways cleared of the devices.
“That section of road is only clear while you own it,” he said.
From there the group
went to Camp Wilson, where four identical trailers held the makings of a combat simulation training device giving Marines the chance to train for convoy duty.
Participants hunkered down in four simulated humvees for a computer-generated trip through hostile territory, firing virtual weapons, including
M-4s, M-16s and .50-caliber machine guns.
After this, group members were dressed up in flack jackets and helmets for the next part of their journey.
They first traveled to a spot where they got to see and hear what it is like when a device is detonated.
They then got to witness a simulated IED attack and ambush, and Marine response, on their own convoy.
They then traveled to Range 200 where a simulated Iraqi town had been set up to train Marines for patrol duty.
A quick tour of that area showed participants how quickly danger can come at Marines and how many directions it can come from.
Ellie
Task force seeks IED solutions
By KURT SCHAUPPNER / The Desert Trail
MCAGCC - With Improvised Explosive Devices proving to be continued threats to American service members in Iraq and Afghanistan, American military leaders have begun turning to American business people in their search for a solution to the ongoing problem.
With that in mind, the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center on Thursday, April 20, played host to several dozen community members, business people and retirees on a day-long trek through the world of Improvised Explosive Devices. The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Task Force has two more such tours planned this week.
Participants got the opportunity to talk to Marines whose job it is to defuse the devices and Marines who have been wounded by them. Over the course of several hours, they learned how the devices are made and triggered and experiences training simulations meant to ape ambushes, IED attacks and a typical Marine patrol in Iraq.
The day began at the officers' club where Brig. Gen. Douglas Stone, Combat Center commanding general, greeted those in attendance and repeated the program's ultimate goal, to find a solution to the IED problem.
The vast majority of casualties sustained by coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said, are caused by these devices which run the gamut from roadside bombs to explosive-laden vehicles.
“Several hundred of our service members have been killed by IEDs,” said Col. Raymond Liddey, who helped organize the day's activities.
Stone warned those about to take part in the tour that it would involve some loud explosions.
“If these things bother you, we can back you up 100 yards and you can stand with me,” he said.
Over the course of the day, tour participants learned, among other things, that IEDs depend on an entire system which starts with the financier, moves through the strategist and bomb maker and ends with the person who sets the bomb off.
It is this system which the task force hopes to disrupt.
“They are quick and articulate and able to change quickly,” he said. “The solution doesn't rest in a piece of technology. It is a whole system.”
From the officers' club, participants were bused to the EOD, where they were divided into four groups.
One group started its day learning about various types of IEDs and techniques used to defeat them.
Gunnery Sgt. Kelly Crawford, whose EOD - Explosive Ordnance Disposal team - has defeated 161 such devices, took participants on a walk down a path laced with simulated IEDs, explaining everything from how they are placed to how they can be detected to the difficulty in keeping roadways cleared of the devices.
“That section of road is only clear while you own it,” he said.
From there the group
went to Camp Wilson, where four identical trailers held the makings of a combat simulation training device giving Marines the chance to train for convoy duty.
Participants hunkered down in four simulated humvees for a computer-generated trip through hostile territory, firing virtual weapons, including
M-4s, M-16s and .50-caliber machine guns.
After this, group members were dressed up in flack jackets and helmets for the next part of their journey.
They first traveled to a spot where they got to see and hear what it is like when a device is detonated.
They then got to witness a simulated IED attack and ambush, and Marine response, on their own convoy.
They then traveled to Range 200 where a simulated Iraqi town had been set up to train Marines for patrol duty.
A quick tour of that area showed participants how quickly danger can come at Marines and how many directions it can come from.
Ellie