ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. -- It was just another routine day for the soldiers of the 761st Ordnance Company at Fort Sill, Okla. as Maj. Ryan Nobis, 79th Ordnance Battalion executive officer, conducted his normal rounds to check on his troops. He never expected to receive word from his CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives) hazard emergency response team leader that a call had just come in from an Air Force security forces officer about a suspicious package at the Sheppard Air Force Base post office.
As with any similar circumstance, Nobis and his team geared up to do what any 20th CBRNE soldier would do to ensure that all is well on the home front. The team responded quickly and without hesitation to defuse a situation that they are always prepared to take on at a moment's notice.
Whether deployed or in peacetime, 20th CBRNE soldiers around the country standby to assist with hazardous, life-or-death situations like these with nothing but their extensive training, ultramodern technologies and dedicated courage to safeguard against potential threats to their communities.
The suspicious package that Nobis and his team responded to was located at a central shipping and receiving warehouse on the Air Force base. It was discovered when an employee opened four packages that were improperly addressed to find additional shipping documents to determine who they were intended for. The employee's description of the odd looking packages prompted security forces to evacuate the building, initiate emergency procedures and call on Nobis's team.
These kinds of events are taken very seriously and tend to bring a lot of senior leaders to the incident scene, Nobis said. On route to the incident, response teams develop a plan of how they are going to attack the problem and develop several "what if" based contingency plans.
These types of incidents are not only serious, they are also very common, according to Staff Sgt. Robert Studstrup, a 20th CBRNE explosive ordnance disposal technician at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. His team often responds to suspicious packages and unexploded ordnance incidents several times a year.
"When a police department has no bomb squad or the police department can't handle the task at hand, they'll give it over to us," Studstrup said. "It happens more often than not."
Studstrup has been an ordnance technician for nine years and he has responded to incidents both at home and deployed. Although he received instruction on how to respond to events during his initial military training, most of his experience came from real-world situations.
Studstrup has seen it all, from improvised explosive device blasts in Iraq and Afghanistan, to a suspicious McDonalds bag reported by a concerned citizen. Each event is handled with the same care and sense of duty.
20th CBRNE explosive ordnance disposal technicians like Studstrup and his team members place themselves in exceptionally dangerous situations and rely on their state-of-the-art equipment to protect them from losing their lives. Their 85 to 95 pound bomb suits have a 99 percent survivability rate at as close as 10 feet, and their 25 pound helmets ensure that they can withstand almost any kind of blast.
"The bomb suit is very hot, but you just have to man up and deal with it," Studstrup said. "I've had the suit on for as long as seven hours at Fort Bliss, Texas, and four hours in the desert. It's not that bad. You get use to it."
Studstrup and his team not only have the almost indestructible bomb suits at their disposal, but they also have robotic technologies like the 100 pound TALON robot system and the iRobot 510 Packbot to ensure their safety. These tools help to prevent a technician from getting too close to a potential explosion.
For Nobis and his team back at the air base, the TALON was used to remotely inspect the packages found at the post office. The robot help to determine that the packages contained four improvised explosive devices. Each one consisted of two five gallon water jugs with four sticks of dynamite and cell phones attached. Two of the packages also included anti-tamper tool boxes with explosives and bolts inside.
"Some of our robots are very heavy duty to break through walls, but also refined enough to turn a screwdriver," Studstrup said. "The TALON can open doors and go up and down stairs."
By using the robot's cameras, Nobis's team was able to determine that the devices found were merely training aids unintentionally sent without proper labels. It turned out that the packages were sent by a private manufacturing company that produces military training aids. The scene was determined to be clear of explosive hazards and the packages were returned to the air base sorting facility.
"No one's time was wasted, because we all got some training out of this incident," Nobis said.
Studstrup said that false alarm incidences are also very common, but they are still handled with a sense of urgency. The Aberdeen team once responded to an incident where someone called in a package that turned out to be just a bag of candy.
Be it eminently threatening or momentously unalarming, 20th CBRNE soldiers exercise their mission to be a trained and ready CBRNE force for overseas contingencies as well as for homeland defense. They encourage their communities to call upon them for any suspected emergency, because their goal is to remain ready, reliable and globally responsive.
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