EOD Airman ‘firmly in the fight’

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MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  One of 6th Air Mobility Wing Commander Col. Lenny Richoux's first visits during his first week on the job at MacDill was the 6th Civil Engineer Squadron's Explosive Ordinance Disposal team. While there he got some interesting insights into the uniqe duty, and a in-demand job specialty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where EOD personnel from MacDill routinely are deployed. The following is the deployed experience of Tech Sgt. Jonathan Quast's training of Iraqi police in EOD procedures, as told to Col. Richoux:

My most recent deployment was a six-month tour to southern Iraq. I had been on three previous combat deployments to other locations throughout middle and northern Iraq conducting typical EOD duties of safing UXOs, conducting post blasts, and disarming IEDs.

In southern Iraq I carried out all of these missions along with a new, equally important task: training Iraqi Police (IP) in all areas of EOD. I was paired with a LTC in the IP who commanded the provincial explosive response team. My team's whole mission was to partner with the Iraqis to make certain they would be able to conduct EOD missions once US forces left Iraq.

My two team members and I trained 60 IP members in the basics of EOD. Our team was assigned our own interpreter so we could successfully communicate with our Iraqi counterparts. We conducted information sharing and joint EOD operations with the IP to help ensure a successful transfer of authority. Although they were many trying times that came along with war and the mixing of two vastly different cultures, my team grew very close to our Iraqi friends making those six months some of the most rewarding in my career.