BAUMHOLDER, Germany -- Soldiers of the 720th Ordnance Company (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) sharpen their skill sets during a field training exercise (FTX), Dec. 8-11. The training served to validate 2nd platoon from 720th EOD for their upcoming deployment in support of Kosovo Forces 27 (KFOR) and their culminating training to ensure that they're ready to deploy.
The Soldiers spent four days validating and training on various realistic scenarios tailored to Kosovo, using information gathered by 3rd platoon from 720th EOD, who had previously supported KFOR 25.
"They brought back a lot of information on types of ordnance seen and what the unit can expect during the deployment," said 1st Lt. Michael Villahermosa, an EOD platoon leader with the 720th EOD."
"This FTX is built in such a way that it will be full spectrum operations, because 99.9 of the instances that are running in Kosovo are UXO (unexploded ordnance) items." "At the same time, we are EOD technicians, so we have a broad spectrum of operations that we run. We run anything that has an explosive hazard, that can be chemical ordnance, it can be IED (Improvised Explosive Device) anything along those lines."
Even though UXO training plays an important role in the upcoming deployment, the 720th still ensured the Soldiers were provided a variety of valuable training to better prepare them for the unexpected.
"With this FTX we're hitting all our METLs (Mission Essential Task Lists)." Villahermosa said. "UXO is to train for Kosovo, but we're also working on improvised explosive devises, we're working on chemical ordnance, weapons caches and ammo depots, so that our team is ready for anything they see when they go to Kosovo."
Ensuring the Soldiers receive proper training and are fully prepared for their deployment is a top priority for the unit.
To ensure the success of the training the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) was brought to provide training to the Soldiers during the FTX. DETRA is a combat support agency for countering weapons of mass destruction and improvised threat networks.
"DTRA was able to set up a large scale improvised chemical munitions lab, so our teams are running with real life chemical incidents," said Capt. Justin Hunter, commander, 720th EOD. "We wanted to make sure this training was realistic to better prepare our Soldiers, so having DETRA out here was a great training opportunity."
The 720th EOD command takes pride in all the hard work and efforts their Soldiers put towards their training.
"The Soldiers have performed exceptionally well throughout the training," Hunter said. "We have conducted two to three FTXs and STXs (situational training exercise) to this point, so they knew what they needed to work on, and they can continue to strive to improve and push forward."
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