Photo By Master Sgt. Brock Jones | Tech Sgt. Adam Burke of Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., team leader of Explosive Ordnance...... read more read more
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FORWARD OPERATING BASE WALTON, Afghanistan – Tech Sgt. Adam Burke of Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is no stranger to solving difficult problems with dire consequences. An explosive ordnance disposal technician with 12 years and well over 100 defused improvised explosive devices to his credit, Burke, now on his fourth deployment, is in the middle of perhaps one of his biggest challenges yet, advising Afghan National Police EOD techs.
Burke and two other airmen, Staff Sgt. Aaron Keeter of Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan, and Senior Airman Andrew Glynn of Minot AFB, N.D., make up EOD Team 1, 466th Operational Location Bravo EOD Flight. The team, assigned to 2nd Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Regional Command-South, didn’t know their assignment would be to train, advise and mentor ANP EOD personnel until just before they left the U.S, said Burke.
Ask any EOD tech and they would likely say there are few things they would rather be doing than defusing IEDs, and EOD Team 1 is no different. But Burke said that the team’s unexpected advisory role has been a worthwhile endeavor and meaningful challenge.
“I think as EOD, one of the things that drives us is that challenge. We see a difficult situation and we come up with an idea and we take care of it,” he said.
In addition to this attitude, shared by all three members of EOD Team 1, they also agree that the assignment has been rewarding in ways they didn’t anticipate. The key factor in both the team’s satisfaction and the success they’ve seen is ANP 1st Lt. Abdullah (name changed for security considerations), a quick-to-smile ANP lieutenant who is in charge of EOD in Kandahar City and the rest of the province.
“I think Abdullah teaches us more than we teach him,” Burke said. “He’s like a loaded gun: you point him in the right direction and he’s there. He’ll take care of what he needs to take care of. He’s made our job so easy.”
Abdullah, who comes from a wealthy family in Kandahar, could have taken a more comfortable path through life. Instead, he said he joined the police because he “always wanted to do something different, exciting, thrilling, and terrifying.” He’s been with the ANP for more than six years, the last three as the man in charge of EOD and improvised explosive device defeat in Kandahar province. In that time, Abdullah has taken care of more than 1,000 IEDs and has seen his team grow from one to more than 15 teams.
“I picked the job, not for money, but to serve my people and my country. I actually enjoy my job,” he said.
More than 12 years ago, Abdullah’s father was wounded in an IED explosion in Bagram in which a half dozen people near him were killed and he was seriously burned, Abdullah said. Over the years, his father told him the story of the explosion and talked about the people who defused such roadside bombs. Years later, Abdullah said he joined EOD without telling his father or family and they didn’t find out until Abdullah was called on to defuse an IED outside the hospital where his father worked. Abdullah said his father watched from the second floor as a tech in a bomb suit worked meticulously to take care of the danger, not knowing it was his son. With the threat over, Abdullah took of his bomb suit hood, revealing his identity.
“That night my father came into my room and said ‘I’m proud of you. Just be safe,’” said Abdullah.
A close relationship between U.S. advisers and their Afghan counterparts is a prerequisite for success on both sides of the advising line. Burke, Keeter and Glynn have formed a bond with Abdullah in the months they’ve worked together, and the relationship they share exemplifies the kind of connection advisers seek.
“Afghanistan is all about relationships,” said Marine Lt. Col. Mark Boone, team leader of Command International Security Assistance Force Advisory and Assistance Team-South, who works with advisers at all levels in Regional Command (South) and all over Afghanistan. Boone said the success that EOD Team 1 and Abdullah have achieved together was exemplary and a model of “what right looks like.”
Prior to EOD Team 1 arriving to work with Abdullah, there was a U.S. adviser working with him but that person did not bring an EOD background to his role and therefore wasn’t able to connect with him like Burke’s team has. The difficulty, Burke said, was that Abdullah and the adviser didn’t speak the common language of EOD.
“The credibility that an actual EOD team brings to the table I think opened Abdullah up,” Burke said. He believes that all the progress they’ve made with Abdullah is because not only do they, as EOD brothers, share a bond of understanding, they also share similar operational experiences that allow them to empathize with each other in ways that would be impossible to outsiders.
During a meeting in the team’s small office, EOD Team 1 met with Abdullah and Boone to discuss a range of shared concerns. The discussion meandered from family topics to military promotions to the ANSF supply chain. Abdullah recounted being called on to defuse a couple of IEDs that had been found on run-off election day. He shared cell-phone pictures and the team discussed tactics and congratulated him on recent successes. Toward the end of the meeting, Abdullah shared his satisfaction in the progress that he has seen in the teams he leads in Kandahar.
“We started from the very bottom but we’ve made good progress. We are improving more and more,” he said. “It’s not going to be done in a day.”
When their tour comes to an end, Burke said, it may look “on paper” like his team hasn’t done much as compared to other EOD teams who are out constantly taking care of IEDs, “but ultimately, in the long term, I think it [working with Abdullah] is going to have much more impact on the future of Afghanistan.”
Boone praised what Burke’s team has accomplished in their role as advisers and said what they and Abdullah have done together should be looked at as a success to emulate.
“They are really making a difference in Kandahar security with what they’re providing to Abdullah in partnership and instruction,” he said.
| Date Taken: | 06.16.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 07.08.2014 02:43 |
| Story ID: | 135476 |
| Location: | KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, AF |
| Hometown: | KADENA AIR BASE, OKINAWA, JP |
| Hometown: | EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, FL, US |
| Hometown: | MEDFORD, OR, US |
| Hometown: | MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, ND, US |
| Web Views: | 1,239 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Advising in Regional Command-South Part 1: EOD Team 1 stands as an example of relationship-focused advising, by MSG Brock Jones, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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