WVARNG Soldiers, WV State Police participate in EOD Raven's Challenge

KINGWOOD, WV, UNITED STATES

05.25.2017

Story by Staff Sgt. Justin Hough 

153rd Public Affairs Detachment

On May 23-25 at Camp Dawson in Kingwood, W.Va., Soldiers from the West Virginia Army National Guard’s 753rd Explosive Ordinance participated alongside the West Virginia State Police Bomb Squad in the Raven’s Challenge, the world’s largest training event for military and police EOD/IED units and emergency management personnel.
The three-day event, which is held in four locations annually, invites military, both active and reserve components, and their local, state and federal law enforcement and agency counterparts to participate in the exercise that focuses on training for real-world scenarios.
“It encompasses the full-spectrum of operations from military, public safety, communications, command and control and it’s the only one that fully exercises these capabilities across the whole spectrum,” said John V. Simpson, Raven’s Challenge Program Manager.
“These incidents directly reflect the current and emerging threat patterns that we as EOD operators and civilian bomb squad technicians are going to face throughout the course of our day to day activities and duties,” said Staff Sgt. Ethan Studger of the 753rd EOD. “The observers and controllers and the administration of Raven’s Challenge did a fantastic job of setting up scenarios that are realistic and mimic the threats we could potentially face.”
Interagency cooperation is important in any crisis, both in the United States and abroad, said Isaac Allender, Raven’s Challenge controller and first sergeant with the 192nd EOD Battalion, Fort Bragg, N.C. What Raven’s Challenge does is provide training opportunities to either begin, or continue building, on those relationships so these organizations can be most effective and efficient in the field. Raven’s Challenge designs the training scenarios based on recent incidents that have occurred in the U.S. and around the world, as well intelligence that has been gathered over the years of emerging capabilities of both domestic and foreign terrorists.
“The whole focus of Raven’s Challenge is to unify military and civilian bomb squads together so in the event we’re called upon to serve together, the bugs are already worked out ahead of time, and I believe this is the biggest takeaway from this training,” said Studger.
The 753rd EOD and WVSP Bomb Squad worked together on six different scenarios during the event. These scenarios afforded them to the opportunity to not only work with one another but utilize different equipment and see how each element handles situations differently and how they operate the same.
Studger said for the junior soldiers in his career field it’s important to understand that there are multiple ways and techniques to do the job and accomplish the mission. The training provided by Raven’s Challenge reinforces the principle that as long as they maintain safety and cohesively work together as a team, the mission can be accomplished, no matter the techniques they use during execution. The scenarios were designed to be successfully accomplished using a number of different methods and practices.
“At the end of this training, I believe the goal is for the cooperating units and law enforcement counterparts to learn as much from one another as they can and bring those practices back to their home units and stations,” said Studger. “This professional cooperation will help us to continue to improve our practices and more effectively execute both our state and global mission while promoting safety among our ranks.”
For more information on Raven’s Challenge, visit www.psbseod.com.

• Date Taken: 05.25.2017
• Date Posted: 05.25.2017 14:45
• Story ID: 235275
• Location: KINGWOOD, WV, US