Photo By Airman 1st Class Ellen Ozkaptan | U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Newman, an explosive ordinance technician at the...... read more read more
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BARNES AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Mass.– The Civil Engineering Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal Flight with the 104th Fighter Wing conducted their monthly training detonations March 8, 2026, to ensure the flight’s training and unit readiness.
The 104th EOD Flight maintained their readiness to handle emergencies through conducting monthly detonations and are trained on a variety of explosive materials and disposal techniques.
“We did a few different volleys, so the guys had a chance to try different things and stay proficient with their techniques,” said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Randy Burlingame, an explosive ordinance technician at the 104th Fighter Wing.
One goal of EOD is to make hazardous conditions safe using explosives. Every month, the EOD Flight is required to stay current with their different techniques and maintain their readiness. To ensure all flight members are confident in all areas, including the types, amounts, and locations of the detonations, the trainings vary from month-to-month.
“We have a lot of different areas of responsibility, and that can be anywhere from improvised explosive devices to conventional explosive devices,” said Burlingame.
In past years, the flight has detonated larger amounts of explosive ordinances with surrounding military bases and has also completed training in different types of weather. Additionally, the flight has detonated explosive ordinances in water, above ground, and in water. For their March training, the EOD Flight used C-4 in shape charges, which requires an electronic detonator.
“If something explodes, the blast waves go everywhere. But a shape charge smashes two of those blast waves together and coalesces it,” said Burlingame.
When the shape charge coalesces, the blast was pushed into a specific direction. This allowed the device to target a certain spot. The C-4 was also compressed into shape charges so that the energy from the blast does not have to travel through air.
“The reason that it’s compressed is to make it efficient,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Zachary Coderre, an explosive ordinance technician at the 104th Fighter Wing. “So, we don’t want a hole in the C-4 because it will change the explosive wave because now the wave has to go through air versus just continuing.”
Once the C-4 detonated, the EOD Flight listened for the magnitude of the explosion. Based on the sound, the flight was able to determine whether or not they had been successful in preparing and executing the detonation.
The monthly training not only demonstrated the flight’s insurance to mission readiness, but also their commitment to improving skills and safety. By testing a variety of scenarios throughout the year in a controlled environment, the Airmen were able to maintain proficiency in which they needed to be mission ready and achieve mission success.
| Date Taken: | 03.08.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 03.08.2026 16:56 |
| Story ID: | 559661 |
| Location: | WESTFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, US |
| Web Views: | 66 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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