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Texas-based EOD Team Rotates Home After Service in Iraq

Navy Newsstand

Story Number: NNS030925-11

Release Date: 9/25/2003 12:26:00 PM

By Journalist 1st Class (SW) Dennis J. Herring, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. 5th Fleet Public Affairs

MANAMA, Bahrain (NNS) -- Explosive ordnance disposal technicians are returning home to Ingleside, Texas, after completing a six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).

Members of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) 6, Det. 2 recently completed their deployment, which included two months aboard USS Ardent (MCM 12) performing mine countermeasure operations, and four months of ground operations in Iraq disposing of abandoned weapons and explosive devices. They were relieved in Iraq by EODMU 2, Det. 8 from Naval Amphibious Base (NAB) Little Creek, Va.

At the beginning of OIF, EODMU 6, Det. 2 assisted Ardent's crew with mine countermeasure operations in the northern Persian Gulf and the Khawr Abd Allah (KAA) waterway in southern Iraq. Ten coalition vessels were assigned to that area to locate and destroy mines that may have been placed in the waters.

"We were there to clear waterways for the safe transit of humanitarian vessels," said Senior Chief Aviation Ordnanceman (EOD/AW) Jeremy McMurry. "We cleared the way for RFA Sir Galahad to transit to Umm Qassr with much needed food and medical supplies for the Iraqis."

Making the searches even more difficult, the silty waters in the KAA waterway contained a large number of wrecked and sunken boats.

"Most of the contacts we dove on turned out to be parts broken off these vessels," said Aviation Ordnanceman 1st Class (EOD/AW) Michael Richardson.

"There was a lot of pollution in the water, which made diving on suspected contacts difficult," McMurry said. "Adding to that, the current was pretty strong. Visibility was difficult, so we could only dive for a short time each day."

After two months on Ardent, the detachment turned to a land-based mission and moved to Camp Victory in Baghdad. When the team arrived there, they found most of the city to be in disrepair. Iraqi and coalition officials have since made efforts to clear the main city streets, to stop people from hiding explosives along roadsides.

"One problem we found was Iraqis moving into abandoned military bases and government buildings," McMurry said. "That made our job difficult, because many times, that was where we found large caches of weapons and explosives.

"We spent every day for the first two months loading these caches on trucks to be moved to a disposal site. Our team disposed of 80,000 items at a net explosive weight of 200,000 pounds," he added.

"Net explosive weight describes the actual amount of explosive contained in a weapon," explained Chief Boatswain's Mate (EOD/AW) John Bone. "It doesn't take into account the weight of the rest of the device."

The team found the Iraqis to be very friendly once the locals understood the reason the team was there. Citizens came to them, wanting to show them hidden weapons and explosives.

"A big problem we found was locals going into the weapons caches and removing brass casings from the rounds," Richardson said. "The brass was something they found that could be sold in town. Almost everywhere we went, we found piles of rounds but no casings."

At the time, the detachment found that its largest obstacle was not so much the dangers they faced rounding up weapons, but that they were the only Navy EOD team in Baghdad. The team members, who found themselves working with Army EOD technicians, quickly learned how to operate in a different military environment.

"When we first got there, we found we had to learn their organization, command structure and terminology," Bone said. "It seemed everything had either a number or an acronym.

"Although it was difficult at first adapting to their system, we found the Army technicians gave us support in any way they could provide," he said. "They treated us just like we were one of them."

In August, Det. 2 was replaced at Camp Victory by EODMU 2 Det 8. After a few days in Bahrain to out-brief their mission, EODMU 6 Det 2. returned to Ingleside for a short stand down before they start training for their next deployment.

The Navy's EOD community is also working out of Camp Anaconda in Balad, Iraq, where EODMU 3 Det. 5 from Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, Calif., has been deployed since August.

The Navy EOD community continues its support of Commander Joint Task Force 7 in Iraq, where its mission is ridding the country of unexploded and improvised explosive devices to ensure the safety of the Iraqi people.