Exercise Eagle Response Concludes with Land-Based Training in Egypt
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS061016-07
Release Date: 10/16/2006 10:04:00 AM
By Mass Communications Specialist 2nd Class Bobby Northnagle, U.S. naval Forces Central Command/U.S. Navy 5th Fleet Public Affairs
HURGHADA, Egypt (NNS) -- U.S. Navy Sailors from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) 6, Detachment (Det.) 4, and Egyptian Navy Frogmen (ENF) concluded Exercise Eagle Response, Sept. 20, a four-day, land-based ordnance training exercise.
Eagle Response was designed to equip already skilled ENF ordnance disposal personnel with specialized skills they can turn around and teach to their inexperienced junior sailors. The exercise is unlike most training endeavors Det. 4 is involved with because they've found themselves training individuals already skilled and knowledgeable in ordnance disposal.
"Many of them have been to BUDS (Basic Underwater Demolition School) or EOD schools in the States, so we don't have to spend extra time teaching them the basics," said Lt. Steve Cobos, EODMU 6, Det. 4 officer in charge. "[Instead] we can put our efforts towards teaching specialized skills they can pass on to their younger peers."
Cobos also explained that having a working knowledge of mine countermeasures allowed the Egyptians to pick and choose what type of training they required and what sort wasn't necessary.
"If the operational theatre doesn't call for certain aspects of our curriculum, there's no point in wasting anyone's time," said Cobos. "They get the training they want and desire and everyone benefits from it."
Det. 4 instructed their Egyptian counterparts on numerous topics, such as how to do basic improvised explosive device (IED) demolition and the procedures for using detonation cord and C4.
"We needed a full day to specifically do land-based training," said Parachute Rigger 3rd Class Adam Bartch, a Det. 4 crew member and Eagle Response facilitator. "We showed them the basic components of IEDs, what to look for and how to disrupt the circuit without [the actual bomb] going off."
Det. 4 had a lot of information and training to put out, but little time to do it. This meant doubling up on training evolutions. Cobos said that because the ENF had prior training and were receptive and motivated, Det. 4’s facilitators were able to skip the basics and fit in all new training.
One of the training scenarios included Eagle Response participants breaching and clearing a "kill house," a building that was rigged with simulated booby traps.
"They went in to 'save' the house and did very well," said Bartch, of Spokane, Wash. "We had some critiques, of course, but all in all they communicated with each other and did a good job."
Det. 4, along with ENF participants, also sunk a mock bottom mine, raised it with a mark 5 balloon and towed it to a safe zone where they walked through the basic setup for disposal by explosion. The divers then set the charges and moved a safe distance away before destroying the mine.
"There were several things we showed them to make the disposal safer and more practical," said Mineman 2nd Class (EOD) James Frank, EODMU 6 Det. 4 crew member and Eagle Response facilitator.
After the bottom mine disposal, Det. 4 and ENF sailors went back underwater to conduct limpet training. Limpets are small, handheld mines that are placed on the hulls of ships or on piers.
"We placed simulated limpets on one of their tug boats and let [the Egyptians] search for them so that they could get experience doing hull and bottom searches," said Cobos. "Once they found them, we did a full simulated mission where we used a shock wave generator to neutralize and disrupt the mock explosive."
"These guys spoke English well and had a full grasp of what we were telling them,” Bartch said. “They even asked us questions on things we hadn't thought of."
EODMU 6, Det. 4, based in Ingleside, Texas, is currently forward-deployed to Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. 5th Fleet.
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