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By Maj. Fred Williams
USARCENT Public Affairs
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said in a 2013 policy statement, Countering Improvised Explosive Devices, “The use of improvised explosive devices threatens U.S. interests by killing, injuring, and intimidating citizens and political leaders around the world, inflicting damage on U.S. forces on the battlefield, and disrupting transportation and the flow of commerce.”
Countering this phenomenon was one of the main focuses of the recent U.S. Army Central-hosted Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Counter- Improvised Explosive Device Symposium, held here May 12-16, with Middle Eastern and Central Asian military leaders.
“Our goal during this conference is to discuss ways in which we can expand our program and provide support, in the form of training, information exchanges, exercises, and hopefully multilateral exercises,” said Col. Jody Nelson, USARCENT Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives chief.
“We encourage everyone to ask questions, hard questions, challenge ideas and share ideas. The collaboration and sharing of ideas this week, will serve to make our relationships stronger and assist all of us in learning from each other,” said Nelson.
A total of seventeen officers and noncommissioned officers from seven partner nations, located in the U.S. Central Command area of operations, attended the five-day symposium. EOD specialists received presentations on stockpile reduction, humanitarian mine action, counter-IED tools and techniques, forensics, homemade explosives, and trans-border threats from their U.S. hosts.
Soldiers from the Mississippi Army National Guard who partner with Uzbekistan through the State Partnership Program (SPP) also attended. The goal of this program is to build defense relationships that promote specific U.S. security interests, develop allied and friendly military capabilities for self-defense and multinational operations, and provide U.S. forces with peacetime and contingency access to a host nation, according to the Congressional Research Service.
“I have learned how important it is to build and maintain relationships and networking with our partner nations,” said Maj. Robert Enochs, 890th Engineer Battalion executive officer, Mississippi Army National Guard.“These types of conferences provide a gateway to share capabilities and ideas with colleagues in similar military professions and have given us a broad overview of the vast capabilities of what the Department of Defense can provide our partner nations.”
Representatives from U.S. Central Command, Forces Command, Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), Defense Forensic Science Center (DFSC), and the 71st EOD Group were just some of the Department of Defense agencies that gave presentations during the symposium.
While the IED has been a focal point of combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq during the last decade, it is not exclusive to those countries or the region--it is a global threat, according to JIEDDO. The Department of Defense estimates more than 1,200 IED-related events occur outside of Afghanistan each month.
“It is important for U.S. Army Central to show its commitment to its partner nations in the CENTCOM area of responsibility,” said Col. Frank G. Davis, II, deputy commander, 71st Ordnance Group and former U.S. Army Central EOD chief. “Every nation here has been affected in some way by this threat and/or use of IEDs within their borders and it is important for us to help them build capacity that enables them to protect their citizens from harm.”
Conferences attendees possessed varying levels of experience when it came to dealing with/or being affected by IEDs. Some nations had vast amounts of experience and some had little to none.
“This is the second time I have such a great opportunity to participate in a Counter-IED Symposium. Participation in such events presents the opportunity to exchange views on existing challenges, successes, and possible areas of cooperation in the fight against IEDs,” said Lt. Col. Koshkeev Islanbek, Kyrgyz chief of engineering service, Ministry of Defense.
“After participating in the first symposium, held in Florida in 2011, we decided to augment the combat training program for the engineering units of the Ministry of Defense of the Kyrgyz Republic to include counter-IED training and currently, the program has been successfully implemented and serves its purpose,” said Islanbek.
The Sultanate of Oman, a Gulf nation, located on the southeast portion of the Arabian Peninsula, in the U.S. Central Command area of operations, also presented during the symposium. Although they had the least amount of experience, in dealing with IED events, of the nations represented, Oman remained eager to learn and to share its experiences nonetheless, asking several questions and engaging other partners throughout the symposium.
“I have been in this field for about 20 years now, and I have never encountered any of these devices, but we are prepared and operational if there is any threat—we are ready!” said 1st Lt. Abdul Wahid Al Bulushi, Omani Army staff officer three, ammunition division.
The partners agreed the IED has and will continue to be the terrorists’ weapon of choice, and will remain an enduring, global threat. IEDs, although they are a tactical weapon, can have a strategic effect, having an enormous potential to influence public perception and creating an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty. Plans are already in the works to host the next EOD/C-IED Symposium in FY 15.
“The IED will continue to proliferate as the weapon of choice for non-state actors such as violent extremist organizations and terrorists,” said Lt. Col. Benjamin Lipari, USARCENT explosive ordinance disposal chief. “Conferences like the ARCENT EOD Symposium allow us to develop a regional approach to attack the threat. One nation alone can’t stop proliferation; it takes a responsible, collective effort across the region.”
| Date Taken: | 05.20.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 05.21.2014 17:58 |
| Story ID: | 130700 |
| Location: | WASHINGTON, DC, US |
| Web Views: | 392 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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