Photo By Sgt. Uriah Walker | "Bloodhound" Soldiers from 530th Engineer Company detonate charges on the abatis lane...... read more read more
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FORT STEWART, Ga. - Creating obstacles for the enemy, clearing routes, and improving fighting positions are all in a day’s work for Army engineers. While the blasts are exciting and the results often spectacular, the skills required to safely complete this job are perishable.
During a two-week training exercise – one week of classroom instruction and another of practical application – 67 “Bloodhound” Soldiers from 530th Engineer Company revisited their bread and butter skills using various explosive charges for urban breaching, cratering, metal cutting and creating an abatis.
Sgt. 1st Class Brandon Diaz, range safety officer, explained the importance of this training saying, “It helps us prepare for any mission down range. Our specialty is route clearance and what we’re doing out here is more in line with light Sapper tasks but, we still need to be proficient for any mission.”
Cratering charges and abatis are two methods of stopping the enemy, or forcing them to choose another avenue of approach, that were practiced.
The significant difference between the two is one is more deliberate, Diaz said. The abatis requires more in depth demo calculations and more complex firing systems. It’s more time consuming and permanent.
“The calculations are designed to make sure you get the desired effect from the blast,” he said. “If you don’t use enough, or too much, you won’t get the desired effect.”
While safety is of utmost importance on the range, building confidence and seeing the results of their hard work is the real payoff.
“Messing with demo can be dangerous,” said Spc. Derrick Sprague. “If you pay attention in the classroom and apply it the lanes, and do well at it, you’re going to build that confidence in yourself because you know what you’re doing.”
| Date Taken: | 07.22.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 07.22.2015 12:07 |
| Story ID: | 170743 |
| Location: | FORT STEWART, GA, US |
| Web Views: | 249 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, ‘Bloodhounds’ calculate, build confidence in their charges, by SGT Uriah Walker, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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