thedrifter
04-22-07, 07:52 AM
U.S. bomb technicians honor their dead
By MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press WriterSat Apr 21, 12:22 PM ET
When Sgt. Tim Weiner volunteered to become an explosives ordnance disposal technician in 1991 he told his family it was one of the safest jobs in the military — how often did a stray bomb need disarming?
"That was before Iraq and the IEDs," his sister, Karyn Plante, said.
Weiner and the other two members of his bomb disposal unit, Airman Elizabeth Loncki and Airman Daniel Miller Jr., were killed in January when an abandoned truck-mounted rocket launcher they were inspecting exploded.
They are among 14 service members who were honored in a ceremony Saturday at the Navy's Kauffman Explosives Ordnance Disposal Training Complex on Eglin Air Force Base, where technicians from all the military's branches are trained for one of the most dangerous jobs in war — defusing bombs. More than 500 people attended.
The three, who formed "Team Lima," had their names added to a memorial in an annual ceremony honoring military bomb technicians killed in action since 1942.
They were the first three U.S. bomb technicians to die in 2007 after 15 were killed in action in 2006 — the deadliest year for technicians since 26 died in 1945, the last year of World War II. Four others have since died — bringing the 2007 total to 40 since the 2003 Iraq invasion.
"I was always prepared to lose one, but it is really hard to put into words when you know that three of your team members lost their lives that day. It's really numbing," said Master Sgt. Michael Riley, who supervised the team at Utah's Hill Air Force Base, their stateside home.
Only 31 percent of those who begin training at the school graduate. And demand for its graduates couldn't be higher.
The Marines, Army Rangers, elite Navy divers and others who train at the school are drilled on how to instantly tell the difference between an array of fuses and timing devices. At an outdoor range behind the school, instructors constantly time them as they try to "render safe" dummy bombs.
"Boom, you are dead," the instructors say when a student makes a mistake.
The recent spate of deaths among bomb defusers in Iraq weighed heavily on the mind of Navy Lt. Stephen Andros, a student at the school.
"You see people dying now and you know that you are going over there to take their place," he said.
Loncki was one of only two women to graduate from her training class.
"She was there with all these men. From the Marines to the Army, anybody who is messing with bombs. For her to do what she did, it was just amazing to me," said her father, Stephen Loncki.
She was engaged to marry another technician when she died.
Her father has her journal, but cannot bring himself to read past the first several pages.
"In the beginning she was very young and gung-ho. After awhile, you could tell that they were an island every day with people trying to kill them and that was what was she walking into," he said.
Kauffman instructors say students usually give one of two reasons for wanting to be an EOD technician — they want to save lives or they want to blow things up.
Daniel Miller liked to blow things up.
"Even when he was little, he was making bombs. He always told us his favorite holiday was the Fourth of July," said his girlfriend, Dana Sopher.
The last time they spoke was Christmas Day — Sopher's birthday. They made plans for his homecoming.
"Going through his voice mails, the tone of his voice changed and became more solemn, but he never said anything about being scared," she said.
Weiner married his high school sweetheart, Deborah, and they had a son, who is 15.
Deborah Weiner said her husband would talk about the children of Iraq, and an incident there last fall had a profound effect him.
"They had evacuated a large area in a village and decided to blow up a device. A little girl was hiding and her face was damaged. Tim was devastated by that," Plante said.
Most Americans go about their lives not thinking about the daily goings on in Iraq, said Stephen Loncki.
"When you have to go to that cemetery and see your 22-year-old with that plaque on the ground, you know the stakes then," he said.
Riley said he is preparing to return to return for a second tour in Iraq. As he sees it, the best way he can honor the memory of his fallen comrades is by doing his job.
"If I go over there with a grudge on my shoulder it may cause me to make a misjudgment," he said. "The job we are doing over there, it is a very important job. The job that Tim, Dan and Liz did, they saved hundred of lives by what they were doing."
Ellie
By MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press WriterSat Apr 21, 12:22 PM ET
When Sgt. Tim Weiner volunteered to become an explosives ordnance disposal technician in 1991 he told his family it was one of the safest jobs in the military — how often did a stray bomb need disarming?
"That was before Iraq and the IEDs," his sister, Karyn Plante, said.
Weiner and the other two members of his bomb disposal unit, Airman Elizabeth Loncki and Airman Daniel Miller Jr., were killed in January when an abandoned truck-mounted rocket launcher they were inspecting exploded.
They are among 14 service members who were honored in a ceremony Saturday at the Navy's Kauffman Explosives Ordnance Disposal Training Complex on Eglin Air Force Base, where technicians from all the military's branches are trained for one of the most dangerous jobs in war — defusing bombs. More than 500 people attended.
The three, who formed "Team Lima," had their names added to a memorial in an annual ceremony honoring military bomb technicians killed in action since 1942.
They were the first three U.S. bomb technicians to die in 2007 after 15 were killed in action in 2006 — the deadliest year for technicians since 26 died in 1945, the last year of World War II. Four others have since died — bringing the 2007 total to 40 since the 2003 Iraq invasion.
"I was always prepared to lose one, but it is really hard to put into words when you know that three of your team members lost their lives that day. It's really numbing," said Master Sgt. Michael Riley, who supervised the team at Utah's Hill Air Force Base, their stateside home.
Only 31 percent of those who begin training at the school graduate. And demand for its graduates couldn't be higher.
The Marines, Army Rangers, elite Navy divers and others who train at the school are drilled on how to instantly tell the difference between an array of fuses and timing devices. At an outdoor range behind the school, instructors constantly time them as they try to "render safe" dummy bombs.
"Boom, you are dead," the instructors say when a student makes a mistake.
The recent spate of deaths among bomb defusers in Iraq weighed heavily on the mind of Navy Lt. Stephen Andros, a student at the school.
"You see people dying now and you know that you are going over there to take their place," he said.
Loncki was one of only two women to graduate from her training class.
"She was there with all these men. From the Marines to the Army, anybody who is messing with bombs. For her to do what she did, it was just amazing to me," said her father, Stephen Loncki.
She was engaged to marry another technician when she died.
Her father has her journal, but cannot bring himself to read past the first several pages.
"In the beginning she was very young and gung-ho. After awhile, you could tell that they were an island every day with people trying to kill them and that was what was she walking into," he said.
Kauffman instructors say students usually give one of two reasons for wanting to be an EOD technician — they want to save lives or they want to blow things up.
Daniel Miller liked to blow things up.
"Even when he was little, he was making bombs. He always told us his favorite holiday was the Fourth of July," said his girlfriend, Dana Sopher.
The last time they spoke was Christmas Day — Sopher's birthday. They made plans for his homecoming.
"Going through his voice mails, the tone of his voice changed and became more solemn, but he never said anything about being scared," she said.
Weiner married his high school sweetheart, Deborah, and they had a son, who is 15.
Deborah Weiner said her husband would talk about the children of Iraq, and an incident there last fall had a profound effect him.
"They had evacuated a large area in a village and decided to blow up a device. A little girl was hiding and her face was damaged. Tim was devastated by that," Plante said.
Most Americans go about their lives not thinking about the daily goings on in Iraq, said Stephen Loncki.
"When you have to go to that cemetery and see your 22-year-old with that plaque on the ground, you know the stakes then," he said.
Riley said he is preparing to return to return for a second tour in Iraq. As he sees it, the best way he can honor the memory of his fallen comrades is by doing his job.
"If I go over there with a grudge on my shoulder it may cause me to make a misjudgment," he said. "The job we are doing over there, it is a very important job. The job that Tim, Dan and Liz did, they saved hundred of lives by what they were doing."
Ellie