EOD makes cleaning up BOOM-tastic

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Kenna Jackson
  • 35th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan --  Cleaning up can be a nuisance to many people, but for the 35th Civil Engineer Squadron explosive ordnance disposal team, it's just another exciting part of their day.

Approximately once a month, a handful of EOD Airmen go out to Draughon Range to dispose of dud explosives, which are devices that have failed to detonate after being fired.

The range is used by Misawa's pilots for live-fire training purposes. If the range is not properly cleared of duds prior to draughon range control civilian maintainers going out there to rearrange targets or check pilot's scores, injuries can become a factor.

"Our job is to go out there and find all the duds the pilots dropped during their training and dispose of it. The only way to do that is to blow it up," said 35 CES EOD technician Tech. Sgt. Kristopher Parker, NCO in charge of EOD operations.

However, there is more to cleaning up the range than spending the day out of the shop and getting an adrenaline rush from seeing things blow up. EOD Airmen use this opportunity to keep up with their training and practice safety procedures until its embedded deep into their brain.

"When I deploy and have to deal with improvised explosive devices or weapons cache disposal, I won't lose my head because I'd already conditioned myself to react accordingly in a safe environment," said Parker.