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ATF trains military on post-blast investigations

Army News Service

Release Date: 4/13/2004

By Debra Bingham

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, April 13, 2004) - Military members who specialize in the explosive ordnance disposal field will get the chance to enhance their skills from their civilian counterparts.

It's part of a new, ongoing training course being held at the National Center for Explosives Training and Research at Fort A. P. Hill, Va. The ATF maintains and oversees the center, training a variety of law enforcement agencies in blast investigation and explosives disposal techniques.

At the course, Army and Navy EOD specialists join civilian agents in sifting through debris of what's left of a car after an explosion. Plastic engineer tape forms a series of grids where workers carefully remove small particles from the soil with gloved hands.

Special Agent Steven Beggs, section chief for the NCTR, said students receive an overview of the types of explosive devices criminals and terrorists use.

"It's post blast as prevention," Beggs said. "It's not only about responding to a past event, but through thorough and complete examination of a blast site, students will be able to stop them from happening in the future."

Beggs said a blast site provides a wealth of information, such as what the device was made of, how it was built and who built it. That information can lead to ways of countering it, he said.

The recent NCTR class was the second one offered so far to military, according to Sgt. 1st Class Gary Stair, 52ndOrdnance Group, Fort Gillem, Ga. Stair schedules Army EOD specialists for the course and also serves as a liaison for the training with other military service branches.

"In Army EOD training Soldiers learn how to evaluate, render safe and dispose of explosive devices. The ATF focuses on post blast, and provide actual ordnance from Iraq and other areas," Stair said.

Post blast investigation skills are critical for today's EOD specialists, according to Stair. Since the ATF already had a course in place for the civilian agencies it trains, Stair said it made sense to take advantage of the resources and knowledge base.

Sgt. 1st Class Walter Holden, an EOD specialist, deployed to Afghanistan where he spent months "policing up" weapons caches and destroying much of the ordnance on site by blowing it up. Holden, assigned to Fort Sam Houston, Texas, said he didn't do a lot of post-blast investigations when he was deployed.

Holden said the most useful concept he learned was following a step-by-step process 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-long program, students receive a briefing on IEDs 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 this time. We also want to offer it to Marines," Holden said.

Many of the students will soon deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan, some have already been.

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 appeared beyond identification. Some were so small that students used a magnifying glass to examine them.

At one table, a group of eight students worked its way through a pile of bags. Sgt. 1st Class Mark Simeroth, assigned to the 754th Explosive Ordnance Detachment at Fort Monmouth, N.J., examined an item and shared his evaluation. He passed the item on to another student. They agree: it's part of a battery casing. Another student logged the response on the group's answer sheet.

The noise level in the room rose as students completed the hands-on exercise.

"That's a metal washer used for fragmentation," shouted a Soldier. Across the room a BDU-clad sailor evaluated a bag containing a tiny charred item "It's a melted plastic blasting cap," he said.

During the final practical exercise, students journey to the demolition range. ATF instructors pattern an explosive device out of foreign military ordnance-like a mortar-and detonate it inside a car. It's a device that many U. S. forces in Iraq have faced and these students may soon encounter.

Students must find, recognize, collect and then reconstruct the device from the scorched soil. The tiny bits of crumpled metal, melted plastic, twisted wire and other charred debris will provide clues as to what caused the blast, and more importantly, help prevent future blasts-and save lives.

Staff Sgt. Don Cochran, 761st EOD, Fort Sill, Okla., has already deployed to Iraq. He is determined to learn as much as he can during the class so he can share the information with his Soldiers.

"If we can put it back together maybe we can defeat it next time-before it goes off," Cochran said.

(Editor's note: Debra Bingham is a member of the Fort A.P. Hill Public Affairs Office.)