By Ann Roosevelt
The Navy’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) forces are deployed around the world, heavily engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan, working on the dangerous tactical edge, officers said.
“We are a combat force–we counter explosive hazards, to include the IEDs to weapons of mass destruction to underwater mines and all other types of weaponry that might be out there that’s going to present a hazard to us,” said Capt. Dale Fleck, commodore of EOD Group Two based at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Ft. Story, Va., in a telephone roundtable last week. “We’re a critical force that enables combat operations and maneuver, and our sailors are our foundation.”
Capt. Ted Lucas, commodore of San Diego-based EOD Group One, said the EOD force is not platform-centric. It uses a wide variety of kit, from jammers to robots to bomb suits. What’s used depends on whether sailors are diving to 300 feet underwater or working close to shore or inland in the mountains or desert.
EOD Group One and Two support the Navy’s maritime strategy and are part of the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command that is the central management for readiness, resources, manning, training and equipping of expeditionary forces.
IEDs remain a significant threat in Afghanistan and Iraq. Dealing with them is where you’ll find the EOD techs.
Lucas said his group is involved in all the counter-IED operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the tactical level, EOD techs work 24/7 and perform render-safe operations on IEDs every day. “Our battalion level leads all counter-IED forces in Southern Afghanistan, and in future other units will continue to provide the command and control of all of the EOD forces out there in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
In addition, Group One is currently fully engaged in Rim of The Pacific exercise, where Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit One holds command and control of all the expeditionary forces involved in that exercise.
Teams are deployed on carrier strike groups to provide EOD support to render-safe all types of explosive hazards plus disarm any underwater explosives, such as mines, that may turn up in the course of a deployment.
Lucas has eight units under his command. Six are located in San Diego, one is located in Guam–EOD Mobile Unit 5–and one is located in Honolulu–Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit One.
Fleck also said his forces support the counter-IED fight, and for the past several years have been heavily involved with training the Iraqi bomb disposal companies–equivalent to EOD–and the civilian law enforcement explosive experts.
The goal is that Iraqi units “can gain experience and eventually when we fully withdraw they are self sufficient from an EOD aspect,” Fleck said.
Fleck also has eight subordinate units, seven of which are located at Little Creek or at Ft. Story, Va. Another is deployed to Signonella, Sicily.
The forward deployed Mobile Unit 8 in Sigonella routinely works with U.S. partners on EOD and diving. “Cross training helps keep everybody up to speed and provides engagement country to country,” he said.
Lucas said working with coalition forces operationally, and in exercises such as RIMPAC, promotes team building, and builds partner capability, Lucas said.
Of Group Two’s eight units, Fleck said, four are active EOD units, one is a Mobile Diving Salvage Unit, one is an Expeditionary Support Unit, providing logistics, one is a training unit for all active EOD forces and one is a reserve component.
Outside of current missions to Iraq and Afghanistan, Fleck’s units provide support to other operations, conducting missions such as force protection diving.
The EOD Groups are up to date on all the latest enemy tactics.
Fleck said after responding to an IED, either after it’s detonated or after rendering it safe, “we actually do an analysis of the scene and the materials that were involved and reports are generated and quickly pass through the operational force channel, so if it’s something newly seen, everybody gets initial notification that there’s something different happening.”
That information also goes to various training centers and is incorporated into the latest training going out to the force. EOD personnel spend a year in training.
Lucas said both commodores have EOD Training and Evaluation Units. “Our trainers there are the best in the world. They keep up to speed on everything that is going on in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are combing all different sources of information to see how our enemies are building IEDs, their tactics, techniques and procedures, and sailors going through training are getting the most up to date information to train on.”
It is not the Groups, but the EOD Technology and Training Center in Indian Head, Md., that pulls together all the joint EOD requirements for the future and builds the tools and technologies for the future.
What EOD forces learn operationally also feeds the center.
“Absolutely,” Fleck said. The EOD center is in the loop on all these very current things that are happening. In fact, they have people who jump to the debriefs and they’re engaged with all four services’ EOD lessons learned. Their focus on technology advances does incorporate all of the current efforts and they also look to the future things, to make sure that technology is developed to address those threats of current and the future.”
All the effort is to prevent casualties for deployed forces and for the EOD techs themselves.
“We always try to do it the safest way possible and that is by remote means, so as we look to the future we would like to be able to do it more remotely,” Lucas said.