Soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, along with elements from the 521st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 5 trained the 14th Iraqi Army Division EOD team to properly dispose of a cache of ammunition, said Navy Lt. Joe Morgan, assistant platoon commander for the 521st platoon, EOD Mobile Unit 5.
Before the two teams could detonate the ammunition, they had the daunting task of identifying and inventorying every round.
The EOD teams cataloged more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition; the majority of them were high-explosive, armor-piercing rounds, said Morgan. It’s imperative to teach the IA EOD teams to dispose of ordnance before the Coalition forces depart the country, said 1st Lt. Kyle Huss, a platoon leader with Echo Company, 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment.
“We have to be sure the Iraqi Security Forces are capable of dealing with problems like this by themselves,” said the Friendswood, Texas native. “There is a lot of unexploded ordnance in Iraq and much of it is unstable and dangerous. It’s really important to teach them how to not only find this stuff, but how to safely inventory and dispose of it.”
Morgan, who has worked with EOD operations for two years, thinks each detonation contributes to the overall security of Iraq.
“The best part is seeing bad stuff go away and doesn’t fall into the wrong hands,” Morgan said.
Huss added that the IA seemed poised to perform their own EOD operations in the near future.
“They seem to be very capable of running unilateral missions,” Huss said. “They probably could have done this mission themselves if they had the resources, which is something we’re working on.”
