TALLINN, Estonia - Three Soldiers from the 702nd Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company were part of a training and equipment package presented by U.S. Ambassador to Estonia Michael C. Polt here Dec. 9.
The Soldiers had been in the city of Tallinn all week training representatives of Estonia's EOD centers on upgraded versions of the Vallon Detectors. The detectors enable an EOD technician to run sensors over the ground and map out possible locations of unexploded ordnance (UXO) to precise locations and proportions.
"The system upgrade we are training the Estonians on will give them greater capabilities for UXO searching and will take them to places they previously could not get to," said Staff Sgt. Geoff Dewitt, a native of Yeehaw Junction, Fla., who works as an EOD team leader with the 702nd EOD Co.
Along with the Vallon Detectors and training, the Estonian EOD center received personal protection equipment for 15 people, seven Caliber bomb robots and training in the U.S. worth $750,000 and an additional $95,000 in awareness products and IT equipment.
Ambassador Polt emphasized in his speech to members of the Estonian EOD centers, Estonian rescue board and U.S. and local government agencies and press how Estonia has turned from a consumer of EOD resources into a producer; evident from their civil-military collaborations in Georgia, Iraq and Afghanistan.
"These machines are great aides to the brave experts in the rescue board of Estonia who use their skill, training and equipment to make Estonia and other parts of the world safer. We of the United States are very grateful and very proud, and we look forward to many, many more years of collaboration in walking the earth safely," said Ambassador Polt.
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