EOD explodes with latest technology

September 12, 1997
Originally published by Fairchild Connection (Fairchild AFB, WA)

Stop!

A strange, sinister-looking metal device is right in front of you. Or you just received a package in the mail from a source you don't recognize.

Don't touch it, go near it, or play with it, warns SSgt. Dan Miller. Let the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Flight handle it.

The EOD flight, which is part of the 92nd Civil Engineers Squadron, is the department that removes any unknown or known potentially hazardous ordnance from a scene. "That includes conventional ammunition such as bombs, bullets, projectiles, land mines and explosives. We will destroy these, deactivate them or render them safe," said Miller, an EOD technician.

Miller said that the overall mission of the flight is to protect people, resources and the environment from the effects of hazardous, explosive, chemical, biological, incendiary and nuclear ordnance.

Miller added that the crew will also shut down homemade terrorist devices. "We work closely with other law enforcement agencies, such as the Secret Service or FBI and deploy to different areas for mobility purposes.

"Along with the Secret Service, our job requires us to provide protection for the President and other dignitaries. We protect them from all potentially hazardous ordnance within all areas while on escort."

During World War II, the first organized ordnance department came about when the Royal Air Force in England created the first bomb disposal units. Their experts began to train the Army Air Force in bomb disposal and ordnance control in 1942 at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md.

"EOD is a Department of Defense sponsored program, and each service has a different mission pertaining to it. The Air Force is responsible for providing EOD control to all its resources, property on bases, possessions and National Guard and Reserve areas," Miller said.

Miller said the key to the job is extensive training and paying attention.

"It's either initial success or total failure," he said. "If you're not totally correct in handling a procedure in this job, you may not live to tell about it. Training in this job is the key to success and staying alive."

Range clearing operations, tests and evaluations on subject matter, ammunition disposal operations, flightline operations and explosive device recovery are just some of the functions EOD provides.

Six months of technical training school, gaining practical knowledge and honing skills are the backbone, plus a monthly qualification test with live ammunition is required, according to Miller. "We even set up situations with wrecked aircraft. When a plane goes down, EOD should always be the first on the scene," he says.

"We'll even open suspect packages someone gets in the mail with special devices, train security police dogs and provide smoke grenade training to Survival School students," Miller added.

Disposing of homemade terrorist devices such as car and pipe bombs are trickier, so the crew gets training on those subjects also, Miller said. The crew also learns how to secure flightline ammunition and storage areas, he said.

"During wartime, our main responsibility is unexploded ordnance--both ours and those we can't identify. We secure the area, deactivate it, take it to a remote holding area and burn or detonate it. That worked well in the Gulf War, when we used two captured Iran bases as holding areas for ordnance," Miller said.