Air Force, Army EOD train Iraqi CET to operate new equipment

Photo By Spc. Jessica Luhrs-Stabile | An Iraqi policeman with the Kirkuk Iraqi police Counter Explosives Team, operates an ANDROS robot during familiarization training, at Contingency Operating Site Warrior, Kirkuk, Iraq, Aug. 25.  

KIRKUK, IRAQ

09.15.2010

Story by Spc. Jessica Luhrs-Stabile 

1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division

KIRKUK, Iraq - Each of the Iraqi policemen, with the Kirkuk Iraqi police Counter Explosives Team, paid close attention to the two Airmen who stood in the front of the classroom showing them how to put together and operate an ANDROS robot which will ultimately save their lives and the lives of Iraqi civilians.

These ten IPCET are a part of a seven-day long familiarization training program, which began Aug. 25, and is facilitated by Explosive Ordnance Disposal Airmen, with the 506th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron and Soldiers with 38th Ordnance Company out of Fort Stewart, Ga., currently assigned to Task Force Troy-North, and deployed to Contingency Operating Site Warrior, Kirkuk, Iraq.

The purpose of the training is to assist the IPCET with operating new equipment and help them prepare to completely assume EOD duties after the withdrawal of U.S. Forces from Kirkuk.

The new equipment is being provided by the Iraq Ministry of the Interior and includes multiple bomb disposal suits, a disruptor, an exploder, X-Ray unit, bomb trailer and three Andros HD1 robots; the IPCET will receive the equipment during their training.

During the first part of the familiarization training, ANDROS robot operations, the IPCET excelled according to an EOD team leader with seven years of experience and three deployments.

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jason A. Luckenbach, an EOD team leader, said he was very impressed with the IPCET.

The level of knowledge the IPCET displayed today makes the EOD confident this area will be left in good hands, he explained.

He continued by saying he is confident the new equipment and training the IPCET is receiving will save many lives.

“These tools and this training will give the IPCET a capability to disarm IED’s and do so safely; saving many lives,” said Tech. Sgt. Luckenbach, a native of Alamogordo, N.M.

• Date Taken: 09.15.2010
• Date Posted: 09.15.2010 02:40
• Story ID: 56287
• Location: KIRKUK, IQ