KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea -- The 8th Civil Engineering Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal Flight partnered with the U.S. Marine Corps and Republic of Korea Air Force EOD teams to host their quarterly interoperability training from April 14 to 18.
The week-long training functions to teach and test USAF, USMC and ROKAF EOD team’s ability to quickly assess situations and integrate each other's tactics and equipment to identify and dispose of suspicious packages, unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices.
“We do this training so that if we need to partner up and accept follow-on forces and work closely with the ROKAF EOD teams, we’re both already familiar with each other's [standard operating procedures] and TTP [tactics, techniques and procedures], that way it’s seamless,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Bryan Price, 8th CES EOD team leader. “We’re going about doing that by mixing up U.S. and Korean forces for events and learning each other's tactics firsthand.”
Joint exercises like this allow EOD professionals to gain experience with assets and circumstances that are unique to Kunsan AB. The chance to sharpen their skills while learning what gear they need to approach and accomplish a mission in a different way is a welcome challenge for the teams.
“The Air Force and ROKAF invited us out here, and we’re showing them how Marines do certain things while building that relationship, so we could easily work together to solve any issues in the area,” said U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Desmond Tyson, Marine Wing Support Squadron 171, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, an explosive ordnance disposal technician. “EOD work is so vast and there's so many different ways to do things. We can take that and apply it to how we’re currently [conducting operations] and make [tasks] a bit easier to get done.”
Throughout the week, EOD teams were presented with several different mission sets with the goal of identifying, disarming and disposing of mock munitions. For the teams, these daily training scenarios are a chance to see what the differences and similarities between their processes are, all while strengthening relationships with the understanding that they may be asked to operate jointly in an Agile Combat Employment environment.