Photo By Staff Sgt. Joshua Breckon | Explosive Ordnance Disposal Airmen wearing 75-pound bomb suits are accompanied to the...... read more read more
KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq — The 506th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron's Explosive Ordnance Disposal team sponsored a 5K run, Dec. 12, raising charitable donations for the families of an Iraqi police team killed by an improvised explosive device.
"Three members of the Iraqi police counter explosive team were killed in a vehicle borne IED attack," said Senior Master Sgt. Albert Schneider, 506th ECES EOD flight chief deployed from the 354th CES, Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. "Since then, their families have struggled to make ends meet, so we decided to put together a fundraiser to raise money for the families. We're also using a small portion of the money to memorialize the three members [in a mural] on one of the t-barriers here."
Schneider said the run was important in expressing the support and partnership between the U.S. and Iraqi teams.
"Our brotherhood extends beyond nationalities, it extends beyond service," he said. "We have actually had bonds formed with these guys for years ... We know the IP CET, they're extremely good at what they do and it's an honor for us to be able to partner with them."
Airmen and Soldiers who participated in the run and volunteered for the event helped to make it a success.
"Today we had 78 runners for the event with a total of a little over 100 people helping out with set up, following the runners for medical purposes, water tables and donations," said Tech. Sgt. Steven Stillings, 506th ECES EOD flight superintendent deployed from the 886th CES, Ramstein Air Base, Germany. "We raised a little over $1,500 today through donations."
Two members of the EOD team ran donning 75-pound EOD bomb suits. They were joined by their Iraqi interpreter who also wore a suit for the entirety of the run.
"The bomb suit represents the EOD guys ... it adds some EOD flavor to it," said Mahad Ahmed, Department of Defense linguist.
Ahmed said the run was important to show that the spirit of the Iraqi counter explosive team will live on.
"We ran this morning just as an appreciation for them and show them that they're going to stay in our mind and our heart forever," said Ahmed.
| Date Taken: | 12.22.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 12.22.2009 10:51 |
| Story ID: | 43048 |
| Location: | KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, IQ |
| Web Views: | 404 |
| Downloads: | 284 |
This work, EOD run memorializes fallen Iraqi counter explosive team, by SSgt Daniel Martinez, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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