202nd
Ordnance Company
Explosive
ordnance disposal technicians with Georgia’s
202nd Ordnance Company walk past the
remains of a cache of Iraqi rocket
propelled grenades and other munitions
outside Baghdad.
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By
Sgt. Roy Henry
DOC/124th MPAD
For many
of the units involved in operations Iraqi Freedom,
Enduring Freedom and Noble Eagle, publicity is pretty
much a given. The Soldiers being covered by one press
organization or another usually welcome the attention --
to a point.
One group
Soldiers who are glad they don’t get a lot of press,
and yet would like people to know the important part
they play in the war on terror, are the explosive
ordnance disposal technicians of the Georgia Army
National Guard’s 202nd Ordnance Company.
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Capt.
Lawrence Goss
Commander, 202nd Ordnance Company
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Based in
Marietta, the unit has been deployed since Dec. 19,
2002, first in support Operation Enduring Freedom and
now as part of the homeland security mission. It expects
to re-deploy back to its home station at end of June. A
portion of the unit remains on duty in Iraq, working
with coalition forces in and around Baghdad.
Much of
the work that group is doing remains classified, said
Capt, Lawrence Goss, a 17-year Army Guard veteran with
three years in the active-duty Army and the unit
commander. He could reveal, however, that they are
involved in ridding the Iraqi country side of old
ammunition sites and clearing Improvised explosive
devices and mines discovered by coalition units.
At least
one member of the unit was deployed in support of
operations in Afghanistan. That Solider, Goss said, has
now transferred to Iraq, joining the group already in
that country to add to the expertise it brings to the
OIF mission.
A Soldier of
the 202nd OD inspects unexploded Iraqi
artillery shells. After the inspection
and count, the shells were blown
in-place by the unit's EOD technicians.
Had these munitions not be disposed of
they would could have been used by Iraqi
insurgents as Improvised Explosive
Devises or loaded into a vehicle and
used as a car bomb to kill and maim U.S.
and coalition forces and Iraqi citizens.
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"As
much as we’d like to have people understand who we are
and what it is we do, we simply cannot because of
operational security," Goss said in a telephone
interview from his office at Fort Bragg, N.C. "It’s
just the nature of our business.
While at
Fort Bragg, the 202nd is assigned to the 184th Ordnance
Battalion. which also does explosive ordnance disposal.
"At
the same time, the satisfaction of a job well-done,
knowing that we went beyond our best effort to defeat
the intentions of individuals and organizations bent on
terrorizing the world, is worth more than any photo or
news story," he added.
While he
may not be able to go into detail about what it is he
and his technicians do and how they do it, he did offer
a general idea of the kind of missions the 202nd has
been conducting.
Since its
arrival at Fort Bragg, the unit’s technicians have
been responsible for unexploded ordnance disposal (UXO)
support on the post and for state of North Carolina.
They also support the U.S. Secret Service, the agency
responsible for protecting President George W. Bush,
Vice President Dick Cheney and other national and
foreign government officials, Goss explained.
All it
takes is a telephone call from the appropriate
party, he said, and the unit gets up, gets out and gets
the job done.
"We
often get as little as a 30 minute notice about a
mission, which means we have to gather as much
information as possible to prepare and and to get to
where we need to be to resolve the problem," Goss
said. "It’s definitely a challenge, but that’s
the job we have chosen."
By the
very nature of what the 202nd Ordnance Company does,
every mission is a test of its technicians’ skills,
and each mission presents its own unique challenge. Even
getting ready for this deployment was like that, he
said.
Because
they are traditional citizen-Soldiers, those who serve
one weekend-a-month, two weeks for annual training, Goss
and the 202nd technicians don’t work daily with live
explosives, bullets and other munitions. That created a
learning curve for the techs when they joined their
active-duty counterparts, Goss said.
"Don’t
misunderstand," he said. "When we train, we
train hard and have some of the most knowledgeable
Soldiers anywhere. But you have to work regularly with
explosives, IEDs and other conventional munitions in
order to stay on top of your game." .
To put
the 202nd technicians on the same level as the
active-duty techs, the unit spent two fast-paced weeks
at Redstone Army Arsenal, Huntsville, Ala., attending a
condensed version of the full-time Army’s EOD School.
That and the constant retraining the unit does have
helped hone the keen eyes and calm hands of his
technicians.
This
mission to support homeland defense and the Global War
on Terrorism isn’t the first time the 202nd has faced
special challenges. Before
Noble Eagle was their mission to support security
efforts at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Thousands
of Olympic fans, athletes and dignitaries from around
the world were all in a limited area. "Now that was
whole set of challenges in and of itself," Goss
said, remembering the three weeks spent supporting the
protection efforts for world officials visiting Salt
Lake City and at Olympic venues.
"Time
was of the essence and our reaction to any given mission
had to be quick," he recalled. "That was
especially true when it came to the hundreds of
dignitaries who came to Salt Lake because searches of
venue areas had to be done quickly but expertly and
without anyone, including fans and athletes, really
knowing what was happening".
During
the Olympics it was ice, snow and the cold that often
challenged the EOD techs while they did their job.
Before Salt Lake City it was the jungles of Panama when
the unit returned to that country in 1999, Goss said.
It was
shortly before the U.S. turned over the Panama Canal to
the Panamanian government, he explained, that the unit
spent 18 days helping clean up unexploded munitions left
behind on military firing ranges by the Army and others.
"The
heat, the humidity and the jungle, like the cold and
winter conditions at Salt Lake City, can be
formidable," said Goss as he remembered how he and
his Soldiers had to acclimate themselves to the working
conditions they faced.
"Yet,
like any mission we’ve taken on, preparation before
and application of that training during that deployment
got us through and brought us home," he added.
Goss said, as he ended
his interview, that keeping the knowledge of what he and
the 202nd do to a minimum is important to the success of
their mission.
And yet, being able to
tell a bit of the unit’s story lets the folks back
home know the Soldiers of the 202nd are there out there
giving their all to meeting the threat and saving lives
in their own special way, he added.
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