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    KSF, KP, U.S. EOD respond to cache

    KSF, KP, U.S. EOD respond to cache

    Photo By Master Sgt. Kelly Simon | A Kosovo Security Forces explosive ordnance disposal technician drags two belts of...... read more read more

    CAMP BONDSTEEL, KOSOVO

    11.06.2017

    Story by Staff Sgt. Kelly Simon 

    KFOR Regional Command East

    Kosovo Security Forces Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Kosovo Police Improvised Explosive Device Defeat and U.S. EOD removed an ordnance and weapons cache in Verbove, Kosovo Nov. 6. The U.S. EOD team received a detailed report of unexploded ordnance and weapons around 5:30pm Nov. 5 and responded with members of KSF EOD and KP IEDD that evening. After assessing the cache they secured the area, leaving a guard for the night, and returned the following morning to remove the cache.

    Staff Sgt. Behxhet Kodra, the deputy commander and noncommissioned officer in charge of the KSF EOD platoon, said they found “everything” in the cache. Kodra and members of his platoon worked alongside their U.S. and KP counterparts for several hours to safely sort and remove the hazards from the cache.

    “We found ammunition, projectiles, antipersonnel mines, mortars, hand grenades, three different caliber machine guns and lots of rounds,” Kodra explained after the cache had been sorted and laid out in the open field.
    The teams were meticulous while removing each piece of the cache. Items were sorted according to type, all explosive hazards were carefully assessed before being stacked in one section of the field. Buddy teams carried various projectile launchers and their separate components to another section so they could be properly inventoried.

    “We removed over 1,100 pieces of ordnance, weapons and components,” 1st Lt. Joshua Johnson, detachment commander for U.S. Task Force EOD, explained. “It would have taken a lot longer without KSF and the KP out here.”

    Before removing anything from the cache, which was partially dumped in a ditch on the east side of the field, each unit sent representatives to investigate and ensure there were no immediate explosive hazards in the daylight.

    “Our team that did the recon last night didn’t notice any booby traps or anything,” Sgt. Jacob Barrett, TF EOD Team 3 team leader, “but we always want to double check before we start going through a pile of weapons and ordnance.”

    After all three entities declared the cache safe to start removing they started with the explosive hazards before moving to the bulky machine guns and projectile launchers. They removed over 120 weapons and components, more than 900 12.7mm rounds, and over 150 explosive hazards when all was said and done.

    For Lieutenant Muhamet Rushiti, chief of KP IEDD, what they found wasn’t out of the ordinary, but the amount of items recovered was more than usual. Rushiti explained dump sites like this are found regularly.
    “Somebody some time ago threw away these weapons which were probably used in the war in 1999,” Rushiti explained.

    “The best option for the future of Kosovo is to collect dangerous weapons and ammunition from the hands of citizens,” Rushiti said adding, “The goal of KFOR, KSF and KP is a safe Kosovo without weapons and dangerous items.”

    The removal of this cache moves them closer to that goal.

    After completing a thorough inventory of the items recovered KP loaded the weapons and components onto trucks for storage before they can be properly disposed of. KSF took control of the explosive hazards and will dispose of them safely so they no longer pose a threat to the people of Kosovo.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 11.06.2017
    Date Posted: 11.09.2017 04:50
    Story ID: 254736
    Location: CAMP BONDSTEEL, ZZ
    Hometown: FORT RILEY, KS, US

    Web Views: 102
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN