EOD clears Misawa’s airfield

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Derek VanHorn
  • 35th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan --  Late Tuesday morning, during a time when it would normally be filled with lively maintainers and taxiing F-16 Fighting Falcons, the flightline here took on a very different look. It was littered with unexploded bomblets from an enemy missile, every couple hundred yards marking another deadly threat. Within a couple hours, they'd all blow up.

Thankfully, that was by design, as Misawa's Explosive Ordnance Disposal team eliminated the threat through a series of controlled detonations that allowed the airfield to return to normal operations. The scenario was put into place as part of Beverly Sunrise 15-2, an exercise that tests the readiness of Airmen in a wartime setting.

"With our current worldly threats, this is a probable scenario that we could face," said Staff Sgt. Warren Long, 35th Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician and mission lead. "It realistically prepares us for the future."

He was less diplomatic about how that preparation takes place.

"We blow things up; that's what we're here for," he said with a smile.

The EOD team is methodical and efficient in their approach, but don't necessarily have a singular rule on how to handle each type of ordnance they encounter. They're trained to use the best approach based on their discretion, and for these missile remnants, they chose to obliterate them with one-time use detonation cords.

"The whole point of EOD is to clear bomblets, munitions, ordnance - whatever is necessary," said Staff Sgt. Matthew Morris, 35th CES EOD technician who worked alongside Long and two others. "Once we clear those, we can get back to generating sorties and continue our mission here. We're here to clear the aifield do what it takes to get planes off the ground."

Each exercise poses different threats, and this was Long's first time facing a flightline attack.

"Throwing different things at us helps us grow as a team," Long said. "It's a good way to get used to the pace of Misawa."

The techs worked together to destroy about a dozen unexploded ordnance, or UXOs, quickly cordoning off areas before radioing in and carrying out blasts. It takes years of experience to become qualified in EOD, with their technical training school lasting almost a full year. But it only takes one false move for everything to go awry.

"EOD has a specific set of skills no one else on the base has," Morris said. "One touch could set ordnance off; situational awareness is huge."

Misawa has recently revamped its approach to exercising by treating the base as a true home station supporting deployed troops rather than acting as if it were a deployed location. It's given Airmen a new perspective Morris said it's the perfect way to hone their approach.

"We're able to build team confidence because we're together in demanding situations and know what to expect on any given call," he said. "Anything we come upon now is attacked using the same skills we'll use when we're deployed - it's everything you could ask for."