TANTAN, Morocco – U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal techs trained with U.S. Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps personnel and members of the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces during Exercise African Lion, May 22 – 31.
EOD techs from the Yakima Training Center, Washington-based 53rd Ordnance Company (EOD) participated in U.S. Africa Command’s largest joint and combined exercise.
Hosted by Morocco, Ghana, Senegal and Tunisia, the exercise brought together more than 8,100 participants from 27 nations.
Led by the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa, for U.S. Africa Command, the exercise marked the 20th anniversary of the African Lion exercise series.
U.S. Army 1st Lt. Quinton R. Reese, the 3rd platoon leader with the 53rd Ordnance Company (EOD), said EOD techs from his platoon supported the exercise.
“We trained alongside Moroccan Armed Forces counterparts in counter Weapons of Mass Destruction training as well as the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force in a first of its kind USMC-led Joint Unit Recovery Team course put on by the United States Marine Corps’ only Personnel Retrieval and Processing Company focused on mortuary affairs.”
EOD technicians protect the personnel recovery missions by mitigating explosive hazards, including mines, booby traps and damaged aircraft ejection seats. Joint service EOD techs also support the Defense POW-MIA Accounting Agency during investigation and recovery missions around the world.
Reese said members of the 53rd EOD Company as well as a platoon of the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces and a U.S. Air Force port support team qualified as Unit Recovery Teams and could earn a secondary military occupational specialty. This would mirror the Marine Corps Personnel Retrieval and Processing Technician occupational specialty.
Staff Sgt. John Thomas from Oakley, California; Sgt. Joseph Thomas Meyers from Surprise, Arizona; and Spc. Michael Holland from Dayton, Tennessee, certified to serve on the Unit Recovery Team following the personnel recovery training during Exercise African Lion.
Thomas said the personnel recovery exercise contributed to mission readiness.
“The highlight of the training with the U.S. Marine Corps was the culminating exercise conducting a simulated recovery as a team,” said Thomas.
Meyers said the personnel recovery training brings a new capability to the 53rd EOD Company.
“Being certified as a Unit Recovery Team member will aid not only the 53rd EOD Company but the EOD force as a whole by providing a new capability when attached to other units in a deployed environment,” said Meyers.
Reese said the EOD training scenarios were as realistic as possible for personnel recovery missions during large-scale combat operations.
“They had a beach that supported the training that closely mirrored what we could expect in a large-scale combat operations environment with some quickly interred remains that require disinterment and recovery to return to the U.S. or elsewhere for proper burial rites to be performed,” said Reese. “Staff Sgt. Thomas highlighted the exchange of skill sets and knowledge shown by 53rd EOD techs instructing Marines from the Personnel Recovery Program on the use of detectors to aid in the recovery of remains while avoiding hazards.”
Reese said the 53rd EOD Company was the only EOD unit in Morocco, adding that the EOD techs strengthened their lifesaving and mission enabling skills during the exercise.
“The training improved readiness by allowing us to validate expeditionary operations as a platoon element to ship our equipment and then conduct our mission and then safely redeploy back home,” said Reese.
A native of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Reese said he was inspired to serve as an Army EOD officer by a mentor from the 53rd EOD Company, the same company he serves in now.
After serving as an enlisted Army Geospatial Imagery Intelligence Analyst, Reese graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and became an EOD officer.
The 53rd EOD Company is based at Yakima Training Center, Washington, a 327,000-acre training center that can accommodate brigade-sized units for maneuver exercises.
The Yakima Training Center has hosted South Korean, Canadian, Singaporean and other forces.
The 53rd EOD Company “Fighting 53rd” is part of the 3rd EOD Battalion, 71st EOD Group and 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives (CBRNE) Command, the U.S. Department of Defense’s premier CBRNE formation.
American Soldiers and U.S. Army civilians from the 20th CBRNE Command deploy from 19 bases in 16 states to confront and defeat the world’s most dangerous hazards.
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