Photo By Capt. Henry Chan | First Lt. Matthew Baseman defuses rigged ordnance on a road during a team leader...... read more read more
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By 1st Lt. Joseph Bartolacci and 1st Lt. Henry Chan
702nd Ordnance Company (Explosive Ordnance Disposal)
GRAFENWOEHR, Germany – Deep into winter, bomb technicians from the 16th Sustainment Brigade’s 702nd Explosive Ordnance Disposal trained on different exercises at the Grafenwoehr Training Area.
The Soldiers trained on a multitude of techniques to defuse improvised explosive devices for future missions and complete tasks for their Team Leader Certification at the Urban Operations Course and the EOD “blast pit.”
The Team Leader Certification is the goal of all EOD Technicians so they will be able to lead a team when going out on incidents.
Soldiers trained on urban scenarios, or problems, at multiple locations. Improvised explosive devices were found on the roadways to cache sites deep within buildings. In Jan. 2015, Soldiers practiced fabricating and detonating explosive devices to destroy and neutralize car bombs.
Sgt. 1st Class Pisani Kevin served as an “observer/controller” to mentor the Soldiers at the Urban Ops EOD course. Pisani designed difficult problems that caused each team leader to evaluate the situation and prioritize the plethora of devices throughout the building.
“I wanted to create a problem for seasoned team leaders, as well as the lieutenants, to understand their different thought processes and plans of attack,” said Pisani. “My problem also involved the paperwork involved in the process which sometimes goes overlooked in a [field exercise].
“One main reason I enjoy EOD is because there are a million different ways to run each problem. If you run 10 EOD technicians on a problem you will get 10 different processes all leading to the same outcome,” said another observer/controller, Sgt. 1st Class Kyle Theres.
1st Lt. Matthew Baseman has been with the 702nd EOD for more than a year, and was in the process of earning his Team Leader Certification.
“I enjoy running all problems and always learn something new. Going out to Urban Ops was a new location and allowed a variety of problems to be run,” he said.
“It’s not only important for the new and younger Soldiers to get out, use the tools and get the hands on experience, and actually see the effect after they have detonated the tool itself,” said Theres.
"I’ve been an EOD tech for a year and a half now, I haven’t had any deployment time, but I have done a lot of missions here in Europe and worldwide,” said Spc. Andrew Isbell. "The training helps a lot by allowing us know what the limitations are, so if we encounter a suspect vehicle, we know what particular tool will work."
The 702nd EOD continues to train, safely improve its skills with EOD tools, and hosts monthly team leader training courses.
| Date Taken: | 02.26.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 02.26.2015 04:48 |
| Story ID: | 155451 |
| Location: | GRAFENWOHR, BY, DE |
| Web Views: | 392 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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