[Squantos]

The way to keep these folks alive is to NOT talk about HOW ! Too many brag about their knowledge of such things based on what they see or think they know as fact . Yeah yeah yeah....terrorist don't read FR so it's OK to tell it here is the mantra but render safe procedures and Standard Operating Procedure is no ones business by the EOD communities.

Anyone who ever watched 15 minutes of Mr Wizard knows how to apply the lesson to IED's. Things we see in everyday life from a soft drink machine that yells at ya when you get close enough to a toy puppy that does back flips when you reach for it have basics for making an IED ya can't even get close to much less examine before it'll go kaboom. There are submunitions that if a mere shadow is cast upon them from the soldier walking near em will detonate. Stockpiles must be examined as chemical weapons have in the past been mixed in among the conventional weapons as we saw in Desert Storm. Can't just let willy nilly blow it in place or you create a bigger mess than ya started with.

Sadly there are Engineers who think they are EOD qualified because they have construction/deconstruction demolition and mine clearing skill....... A smart technician EOD or not stops if s/he can't be 100% sure of their environment and the task at hand.

In Desert Storm EOD found a bunch of engineers (7) seven to be exact that were stacking a submunition that had an all way acting fuse and should have been blown in place. When the senior EOD troop present tried to stop the process he was ordered off the site by the engineers commander and NOCIC. He protested again and was threatened with arrest if he didn't shup up and depart.

The EOD troop had his team member and 2 french sappers with him and departed. They didn't get more than a quarter mile away when the "stack" of munitions detonated....aka functioned as designed....killing all seven engineers trying to clear the submunition feild.

My friend and class mate from Indianhead EOD school, the EOD troop who tried to stop em was so bothered by this he had nightmares and talked to others that he should have stood his ground and forced em to stop their unsafe operation . His every waking moment was consumed by what he felt was a failure on his part and he took his own life a few months later. Unable to deal with it.

IED, submunitions , UXO, old munitions abandoned are extreamly dangerous and that's why you try to put the best of the best who don't get complacent in that job.

Just my two cents based on my career in EOD......Stay Safe !

[antiRepublicrat]

The EOD guys I really feel sorry for are those clearing WWII UXO that's always found during construction in Germany. No option to blow in place -- gotta defuse and remove. My favorite EOD moment? Instructor at the Fort Sill range before we were supposed to blow stuff up telling us to be careful of UXO and not to touch, etc., all the while he was standing on an old rusted mortar round.

Good to hear from a real EOD guy here, glad to see you made it through your career intact.

[dighton]

Thanks, Squantos.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Could you comment on my question in post #24?

[U S Army EOD]

I had one or two experieces like that in Vietnam and Korea. I had a fire base underground magazine burning one time and they were trying to put it out with foam. I tried to explain to this COl that explosives have their own oxcidizers and they were only trapping the heat. It was a local Vietnamese fire department doing the fire fighting. I told them they had to use water and even told the COL I would be willing to put on an OBA and take the hose into the magazine. I got the old, "Captain, these people know what they are doing and I don't want to hear anymore out of you", treatment. I left and when it went, Vietnam put several of their guys in orbit but they just didn't live through the re-entry.