455th Air Expeditionary Wing

Story by Capt. david faggard

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – Airmen are using off-the-shelf commercial gaming equipment on the battlefield, and according to one Airman operating at a base still littered with Soviet-era landmines, they're a great fit.

When Senior Airman James Dobrynski, a St. Louis native, straps on his individual body armor, fire-resistant uniform and nine-millimeter handgun, he also grabs the half-inch camera-monitor fixed to his Oakley shades which are wired to a small backpack. Connected to that backpack is his Microsoft Xbox 360 game controller.

Operating remotely from the end of that controller isn't a game though, it's a $200,000 robot designed to diffuse the deadliest of improvised explosive devices the enemy can throw at coalition forces in Afghanistan – and he's using these tools to save lives.

"I'm absolutely used to this controller," Dobrynski said joking that he's always been an Xbox player and the transition from gaming to work was easy. "It's easy to go from a game you play off duty, to work and use the same exact controller," just for a much more serious situation he said.

Deployed to an explosive ordnance disposal flight here, from Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., Dobrynski said using the game-controller is easy for younger Airmen.

"This is new technology," said the 25-year-old Airman as he looked through the multi-color display of the eyepiece. "The process is adaptive; if there's something you need because a current tool or process doesn't work, you fix it and use it," said the Airman relating that their job is evolutionary and that having the right tool is critical to their mission success.

Older robot systems were double the weight; now even the batteries are 75 percent smaller, which are invaluable now that Airman Dobrynski carries them in his rucksack – a must he says while on dismounted patrol. The robot being used is the fourth generation for Airman Dobrynski; his previous model was controlled with a Playstation II controller.

His supervisor, Staff Sgt. Elizabeth Spradley, an EOD team chief deployed from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, said it's smart for the government and private companies to develop tools that younger Airmen can relate with.

The development of the equipment has changed from being a "huge, clunky switchboard to an adaptable controller younger Airmen can relate to," said Spradley, a native of Albuquerque, N.M. "Most of the Airmen operating these systems are younger so this makes sense. The development of these tools are a direct result from more Airmen being on foot patrols outside the wire when space and weight are a premium."

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