Blast detectives

Workers sift through debris scattered around a charred skeleton. Plastic engineer tape strung about the area forms a series of grids from which workers with gloved hands carefully remove small particles from the soil. They could be archeologists, but they're not, and the skeleton isn't a prehistoric creature, but what's left of a car after an explosion.

These are explosive ordnance disposal specialists--from the Army, Navy, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)--and they're investigating a blast scene.

It's part of a new course offered by the National Center for Explosives Training and Research at Fort A. P. Hill, Va.

The ATF runs the center, training a variety of law-enforcement agencies in blast investigation and explosives-disposal techniques.

Special Agent Steven Beggs, section chief for the NCETR, said students receive an overview of the types of explosive devices commonly used by criminals and terrorists.

"It's post blast as prevention," Beggs said. By responding to a past event and examining the blast site, students learn how to prevent more of these types of blasts in the future, he said.

Beggs said a blast site provides such information as what the device was made of, how it was built and by whom.

SFC Gary Stair of the 52nd Ordnance Group at Fort Gillem, Ga., schedules Army EOD specialists for the course and is a liaison for the training with other military service branches.

"Army EOD specialists learn how to evaluate, render safe and dispose of explosive devices. The ATF focuses on post blast, providing ordnance from Iraq and other areas as training tools," Stair said.

Post-blast investigation skills are critical for today's EOD specialists, Stair said. Since the ATF already had a training course available for civilian security agencies, Stair said it made sense to take advantage of the ATF's resources and experience.

SFC Walter Holden, an EOD specialist at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, was deployed to Afghanistan, where he spent months "policing up" weapons caches and destroying captured ordnance.

He didn't do a lot of post-blast investigations when he was deployed, he said. Holden said the most useful concept he learned is a step-by-step process used in collecting post-blast components and securing the area before it's trampled and evidence is destroyed.

"It's like putting a jigsaw puzzle together--one that's burned and shattered with no defined pieces," Holden said. "Knowing what the device was assures that countermeasures can be designed."

During the three-day training program, students receive a briefing on improvised explosive devices and classes on explosive effects, fragment analysis, scene-documentation concepts and blast components. The training culminates with a final practical exercise at the demolition range.

"We had five Navy and 27 Army students in the most recent class. We also want to offer it to Marines," Holden said.

Many of the students will soon deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan. And some have already served in one of the two countries. They all know how important the training is, Holden said.

During a class on post-blast components, the students received a stack of numbered plastic bags, each holding an item recovered from a blast. The tiny bits of metal, melted plastic, twisted wire and soot-coated debris were unrecognizable to the untrained eye. Some were so small that students used a magnifying glass to examine them.

At one table a group of eight students worked through a pile of bags. SFC Mark Simeroth, assigned to the 754th EOD Detachment at Fort Monmouth, N.J., examined an item and shared his evaluation. Then he passed the item to another student who agreed it was part of a battery casing.

During the final practical exercise at the demolition range, ATF instructors assemble an explosive device from foreign military ordnance and detonate it inside a car. It's a type of device many U.S. troops in Iraq have already encountered.

Students must find, recognize, collect and then reconstruct the explosive device from the particles they sift out of the scorched soil. The tiny bits of debris provide clues about what caused the blast and, more importantly, provide knowledge that may help prevent future blasts and save lives.

SSG Don Cochran of the 761st EOD Det. at Fort Sill, Okla., has already deployed to Iraq. He's determined to share the information he learned with as many of his Soldiers as possible.

Debra Bingham is assigned to the Public Affairs Office at Fort A.P. Hill, Va.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Soldiers Magazine
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group