thedrifter
01-27-08, 08:28 AM
ALTAQADDUM, Iraq(Jan. 26, 2008) -- It was 11:30 a.m. on March 29, 2003. Three U.S. Army soldiers with the 3rd Infantry Division were operating a checkpoint on Iraq’s Highway 9 in Najaf when an orange and white taxicab pulled over to the shoulder of the road to be searched.
The soldiers went through the normal procedures. No one would ever know if they noticed something strange about the driver, only that he would detonate 100 pounds of C-4 explosive in his trunk, killing himself, the soldiers and a passing bicyclist.
The explosion would become a milestone in modern warfare similar to that of the first muzzle flash of a machine gun in World War I. It was an explosion that would change how the United States fought the Global War on Terrorism and turn three simple letters, I-E-D, into a powerful new threat.
The military’s response to the improvised explosive device was three more letters: E-O-D, or explosive ordnance disposal, a small group of tactical specialists who are walking dictionaries on explosives of all sorts.
Since that initial lethal blast, explosive ordnance disposal personnel in Iraq collectively average 900 IED finds each week, with numbers reaching more than 1,300 during the third week of June 2007, according to Department of Defense statistics. As a result of increased stability in the wake of the troop surge earlier this year, those numbers have declined to roughly 600 as of the end of 2007.
Besides clearing roadside bombs and destroying discovered weapons caches, EOD personnel also teach Marines how to detect and avoid IED’s while “outside-the-wire.”
The modern day explosive ordnance disposal technicians are considered by some to be among the bravest and brightest the military has to offer.
In the Marine Corps, they are an all-volunteer group made up of Marines who have left a previous military occupational specialty in favor of a position in one of the most dangerous jobs available to them. But before being accepted, applicants must first be interviewed and recommended by an EOD officer, and must meet certain academic requirements. Those who qualify then go on to attend seven months of initial training at the Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal School located at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
“They are doing a job very few are willing to do,” according to Capt. Timothy Callahan, the commanding officer of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company, 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward).
NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART
“The reality just wasn’t there,” said Master Sgt. Brent Loechler, describing his previous job in the infantry. This may seem like an odd statement to some considering the job Marine Corps rifleman do today, but the Corps was not always in a full-scale war.
According to Loechler, when he first came in the Marine Corps as a rifleman, training consisted of firing blanks and conducting squad assaults.
Then, on a grenade range at Marine Corps Base Okinawa, Japan, he saw Marines who got to train with live ordnance all the time.
“They were dealing with something that could actually kill them,” Loechler, explained. “You had that sense of alertness, that sense that everyday can be your last if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
That is when Loechler made the decision to become an explosive ordnance disposal technician, like a select few in the past.
The type of Marines who become EOD techs are not superhuman and aren’t adrenaline junkies, said Capt. Timothy Callahan. They are strong, confident individuals who just want to do their part in making the world a safer and better place.
“High school kids; just like everyone else who comes in the Marine Corps who (got) tired of their MOS and wanted to make a tangible difference,” the Sauquoit, N.Y., native explained.
These are the qualities Callahan says he saw in EOD personnel before he made the switch.
“They were straight shooters and they carried themselves well. That kind of thing,” Callahan said. “That’s when I said, ‘I want to do what you do.’”
JUST ANOTHER DAY ON THE JOB
On Iraq’s battlefield, encountering an IED is not exclusive to just EOD technicians.
According to Loechler, the ones initially exposing themselves to it are the discoverers: the engineers, truck drivers and infantryman on the roads daily.
“I am not the lead vehicle in the convoy or the foot patrol in the city seeking these items out,” Loechler explained. “They are the ones who get intimately close to identify the hazard.”
Petty Officer 2nd Class Jeffery King is a Navy EOD technician who operates in northern Anbar Province as part of a joint Navy and Marine Corps team. He and his coworkers respond to calls of suspected IEDs.
Once on site, they rely on a mix of both procedure and instinct. Modern technology such as robots and electronic countermeasures can help survey and destroy possible dangers but there are rare instances when an EOD technician is required to get up close and personal with an IED.
“There are certain situations where it is life and death and EOD techs have to put themselves ahead of what the threat is and do a manual approach,” Loechler said.
Operating in small, highly trained teams on forward operating bases can, at times, make some calls more difficult than others.
“When you have to do a post blast (assessment) and then you see a guy who gets banged up from an IED who you have known a couple of months, that can be pretty hard to see,” explained King, a West Palm Beach, Fla., native.
Although the job can be difficult, King said that one thought in particular helps him and others face the daily challenges of being an EOD technician.
“I like going out and saving lives,” said King.
The soldiers went through the normal procedures. No one would ever know if they noticed something strange about the driver, only that he would detonate 100 pounds of C-4 explosive in his trunk, killing himself, the soldiers and a passing bicyclist.
The explosion would become a milestone in modern warfare similar to that of the first muzzle flash of a machine gun in World War I. It was an explosion that would change how the United States fought the Global War on Terrorism and turn three simple letters, I-E-D, into a powerful new threat.
The military’s response to the improvised explosive device was three more letters: E-O-D, or explosive ordnance disposal, a small group of tactical specialists who are walking dictionaries on explosives of all sorts.
Since that initial lethal blast, explosive ordnance disposal personnel in Iraq collectively average 900 IED finds each week, with numbers reaching more than 1,300 during the third week of June 2007, according to Department of Defense statistics. As a result of increased stability in the wake of the troop surge earlier this year, those numbers have declined to roughly 600 as of the end of 2007.
Besides clearing roadside bombs and destroying discovered weapons caches, EOD personnel also teach Marines how to detect and avoid IED’s while “outside-the-wire.”
The modern day explosive ordnance disposal technicians are considered by some to be among the bravest and brightest the military has to offer.
In the Marine Corps, they are an all-volunteer group made up of Marines who have left a previous military occupational specialty in favor of a position in one of the most dangerous jobs available to them. But before being accepted, applicants must first be interviewed and recommended by an EOD officer, and must meet certain academic requirements. Those who qualify then go on to attend seven months of initial training at the Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal School located at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
“They are doing a job very few are willing to do,” according to Capt. Timothy Callahan, the commanding officer of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company, 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward).
NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART
“The reality just wasn’t there,” said Master Sgt. Brent Loechler, describing his previous job in the infantry. This may seem like an odd statement to some considering the job Marine Corps rifleman do today, but the Corps was not always in a full-scale war.
According to Loechler, when he first came in the Marine Corps as a rifleman, training consisted of firing blanks and conducting squad assaults.
Then, on a grenade range at Marine Corps Base Okinawa, Japan, he saw Marines who got to train with live ordnance all the time.
“They were dealing with something that could actually kill them,” Loechler, explained. “You had that sense of alertness, that sense that everyday can be your last if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
That is when Loechler made the decision to become an explosive ordnance disposal technician, like a select few in the past.
The type of Marines who become EOD techs are not superhuman and aren’t adrenaline junkies, said Capt. Timothy Callahan. They are strong, confident individuals who just want to do their part in making the world a safer and better place.
“High school kids; just like everyone else who comes in the Marine Corps who (got) tired of their MOS and wanted to make a tangible difference,” the Sauquoit, N.Y., native explained.
These are the qualities Callahan says he saw in EOD personnel before he made the switch.
“They were straight shooters and they carried themselves well. That kind of thing,” Callahan said. “That’s when I said, ‘I want to do what you do.’”
JUST ANOTHER DAY ON THE JOB
On Iraq’s battlefield, encountering an IED is not exclusive to just EOD technicians.
According to Loechler, the ones initially exposing themselves to it are the discoverers: the engineers, truck drivers and infantryman on the roads daily.
“I am not the lead vehicle in the convoy or the foot patrol in the city seeking these items out,” Loechler explained. “They are the ones who get intimately close to identify the hazard.”
Petty Officer 2nd Class Jeffery King is a Navy EOD technician who operates in northern Anbar Province as part of a joint Navy and Marine Corps team. He and his coworkers respond to calls of suspected IEDs.
Once on site, they rely on a mix of both procedure and instinct. Modern technology such as robots and electronic countermeasures can help survey and destroy possible dangers but there are rare instances when an EOD technician is required to get up close and personal with an IED.
“There are certain situations where it is life and death and EOD techs have to put themselves ahead of what the threat is and do a manual approach,” Loechler said.
Operating in small, highly trained teams on forward operating bases can, at times, make some calls more difficult than others.
“When you have to do a post blast (assessment) and then you see a guy who gets banged up from an IED who you have known a couple of months, that can be pretty hard to see,” explained King, a West Palm Beach, Fla., native.
Although the job can be difficult, King said that one thought in particular helps him and others face the daily challenges of being an EOD technician.
“I like going out and saving lives,” said King.