Photo By Sgt. Christopher Madero | Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians with Headquarters and Support Battalion,...... read more read more
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CAMP HANSEN, OKINAWA, Japan – “Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!”
The last radio call a Marine detonating an improvised explosive device makes to Marines on the other side of the soundwaves outside the danger zone of an oncoming blast.
One, two, three seconds - then instantaneously - a sound like thunder rings through the dense Okinawan jungle.
The shockwave lifts the ground, shakes concrete bunker walls, and pulses through the center of ones chest.
As the sound of the explosion vanishes into the air, Marine Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians and Okinawa Prefectural Police patiently wait 45 seconds for any debris or shrapnel from the blast to return to earth.
EOD technicians with Headquarters and Support Battalion, Marine Corps Installations Pacific, coordinated and worked alongside members of Okinawa’s Prefectural Police Department during a bilateral post-blast investigation training evolution July 17, 2019 at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan.
The training was conducted to instruct Okinawa policemen proper procedure to approach, investigate, and examine a scene following an IED detonation.
The Criminal Investigative Division with Marine Corps Base Camp Butler attended the event to translate to non-English speaking policemen. Both EOD technicians and Okinawan policemen agreed that CID’s presence was crucial to the success of the training.
“If an IED were to detonate out in the island of Okinawa, It’s important for Okinawa PD members to know what they’re looking at and what to look for in that situation”, said Sgt. Alexander Moore, an EOD technician with H&S BN, MCIPAC. “Today the training went really well. The Okinawa PD caught on very quickly and conducted their investigations with great efficiency.”
Okinawa policemen swept the area cautiously; when they found something that could possibly be shrapnel from an IED, it was put into an evidence bag and analyzed after the exploration was completed. While all this unfolded, EOD technicians kept a close-eye to guide and assist Okinawa policemen during and after the investigation.
“You have Marines with experience in Afghanistan, real life situations. They’ve had experience with bombs and how to stop it. That experience and feedback is important to us”, said Tetsuya Kohatsu, senior forensic scientist for Okinawa Prefectural Police Headquarters. “Hopefully we can continue training like this in the future. We’d like to be a part of that.”
The Marine Corps Explosive Ordnance Disposal mission is to support the Marine Air Ground Task Force, Supporting Establishment, Homeland Defense, Special Operations Forces, and other government agencies by detecting / locating, accessing, diagnosing, rendering safe/neutralizing, recovering, exploiting and disposing of hazards from foreign and domestic, Unexploded Explosive Ordnance, Improvised Explosive Device, and Weapons of Mass Destruction that present a threat to operations, installations, personnel, or material.
| Date Taken: | 07.17.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 07.19.2019 04:56 |
| Story ID: | 331952 |
| Location: | CAMP HANSEN, OKINAWA, JP |
| Web Views: | 184 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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