News

Explosive ordnance disposal teams to deploy

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Desiree Kiliz
  • Wing Public Affairs
MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  Reservists from the 446th Civil Engineer Squadron, Explosive Ordnance Disposal flight, will deploy yet again, as six Airmen from the unit are slated to travel overseas in support of the War on Terror. 

The six Airmen will split into two, three-man teams. One team will deploy to Afghanistan and the other team will deploy to help train the Royal Police Force in Thailand.
The Afghanistan team will deploy for 177 days, and the Thai team will be gone for two weeks. 

Tech. Sgt. Dave Warwick, 446th CES, said deployments are nothing new: "Since 2003, our group has constantly had volunteers deploying to support the war efforts around the globe. We've had people go to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Qatar and Diego Garcia."
EOD technicians have been deployed almost 4,000 days and responsible for almost 5,500 square miles, according to Sergeant Warwick. 

Deploying to Afghanistan provides the EOD team an opportunity to apply its knowledge and skills acquired throughout technical school and year of upgrade training to a deployed setting. It also allows the Reservists to learn in a less threatening environment than other deployed locations. 

"I decided I wanted to go to Afghanistan because, bottom line, I want to do my job. In Afghanistan, I'll get the real-world experience before just being thrown completely to the wolves in Iraq," said Tech. Sgt. Richard Zuck, 446th CES. 

Another important aspect to this round of deployments is the exchange mission with the Joint U.S. Military Advisory Group in Thailand. This mission will provide the opportunity to standardize training with experts from the Thai airport police by conducting several real-world scenarios. 

A big portion of the deployment is to run real-world scenarios with the police and see how they will respond to each situation, which provides a learning environment for technical skills, reasoning and knowledge. 

Master Sgt. Chris Rumley, 446th EOD, participated in this exchange once already. "This exchange allows us to get international exposure to see how other EOD teams operate and helps us build team-leading abilities that are essential in a time of war," he said. 

Deployments provide Reservists the greatest learning tool available - personal experience. This group of six has a lot to look forward to, said Sergeant Rumley.