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U.S., Australian Navies Conduct IED Training During RIMPAC

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS060731-04
Release Date: 7/31/2006 1:45:00 PM

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Will Jones, RIMPAC Coalition Information Bureau

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (NNS) -- U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Group 1 and Royal Australian Navy Clearance Diving Team 1 trained together here July 21 in a skill-sharing evolution at Schofield Barracks, as a part of Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2006.

A roadside bomb training scenario helped build expertise in dealing with improvised explosive devices and training integrated Pacific area multinational combat forces’ operational capability.

“This operation ‘folded-in’ an Australian Navy EOD unit under U.S. tactical control, to show we can work together as a team,” said Lt. Cmdr. Anthony King, of EOD Group 1.

The EOD training event was designed to maximize command and control effectiveness, and cooperation between diverse national forces.

EOD Group 1 trainers set up the explosive hazard awareness training exercise. Clearance Diving Team 1 was then called in to detect and ‘prosecute’ the IED - that is, to find, disable, neutralize or safely detonate the device.

In this event, “we proposed and traded ideas and procedures. We learned about one another’s capabilities and limitations so that commanders have a better understanding of the tactical abilities and procedures of foreign units,” added Senior Chief Explosive Ordnance Disposalman John Carr, a Group 1 master ordnance disposal technician.

“IEDs are the No. 1 threat to forces currently, so skill-sharing between countries is essential,” he said.

Australian Chief Petty Officer Peter Weingaertner, of the Australian Navy’s Clearance Diving Team, explained that the EOD training event “enhances our abilities to work together and to work together better.”

“We are all seeing the same things out there, but training together helps us to see them differently,” he said. “The benefit is in the trading of ideas, brainstorming, and the sharing of intel.”

Weingaertner emphasized that remaining “up-to-date with real-world events in the IED environment is absolutely essential.”

He went on to say that working with the U.S. Navy is a very important and beneficial way of honing his and his unit’s skills.

“Training with the U.S. Navy is paramount to us – the training value is immense due to the real-world experience of the U.S. Navy,” said Australian Lt. Cmdr. Mike Maley, of Clearance Diving Team 1. It translates into “interoperability readiness with a minimum of fuss,” he said, and that is what these RIMPAC exercises are all about.

Though IED prosecution was the training scenario for the U.S. and Australian Navy EOD units on the range at Schofield Barracks, the real benefit “plays out on a larger scale,” said Maley. “By training together, we improve tactical unit proficiency, but also interoperability between units of allied navies.”

This year’s exercise is the twentieth in a series of RIMPAC exercises conducted biannually since 1971. Eight nations are participating in RIMPAC, the world’s largest biennial maritime exercise. RIMPAC brings together military forces from Australia, Canada, Chile, Peru, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. The U.S. 3rd Fleet, commanded by Vice Adm. Barry Costello, is responsible for overall exercise coordination.