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EOD Airmen train for combat

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Holly Brown
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
ORANGEBURG, S.C. --  "Contact left! Contact left! Second vehicle is down... Two wounded... Fire! Fire! Fire!" 

Doors swing open along the three-vehicle convoy. Airmen dive out and take cover. Weapons bristle in 360 degrees. 

The firing begins and the teams somehow have to communicate with each other through the dust and over the rapid succession of bullets. 

"Get 'em out! Get 'em out!" 

The wounded Airmen are pulled into another vehicle while their teammates provide cover. The teams load up to speed out of the fire fight as fast as they can. This is one of the easier scenarios. 

"Controlled chaos" is how Airmen describe the two-week training course, designed to prepare them for combat deployment. 

Eleven explosive ordnance disposal Airmen from across the Air Force completed the Threat Management Group Tactical Survival Advanced Course March 7 in Orangeburg, S.C. 

"You're not going to see training like this anywhere in the Air Force," said Joe Taylor, instructor at the privately-owned company that holds a contract with Pacific Command, Air Mobility Command and Air Combat Command. 

The TSAC course trains Airmen on fundamentals of marksmanship, tactical shooting, weapon transition, cover use, mobile shooting, hand-to-hand combat, convoy operations, weapon retention, scope theory and close-quarters combat. 

"The objective of the course is to teach the students how to survive in the worst-case scenario," said David Sports, TMG instructor. "We give them essential tools for what they are going to be put in: combat situations." 

For some of the students this is their first time experiencing a live-fire training exercise. 

"We think it's important to know how to move and shoot with live fire," Taylor said. "It teaches them; this is what it sounds like; this is how I should react." 

One of the reasons the live-fire training is so important is because there is a real possibility for EOD Airmen to be involved in fire fights while in combat theaters. 

"We don't want the first time for them to experience live fire to be when they are in the real situation," Sports said. 

Two of Shaw's Airmen are returning students to the TSAC course. Senior Airmen Michael Pasley and Trevor Brown went through TSAC more than a year ago, prior to their first deployment to a combat theater. 

"Going through TSAC before my deployment last year helped me become familiar with the weapon systems we use in theater," Airman Brown said. 

"The skills we learn at TSAC are perishable, which must be revisited prior to each deployment," Airman Pasley said. 

Another Shaw member, Senior Master Sgt. Jason Hines, said he has deployed four times and wishes he had the TSAC training before his first deployment. 

"You don't want to be the lowest common denominator on the field," he said. "You want to understand all of the fundamentals of shooting, moving and communicating so you're not holding your team back." 

Sergeant Hines said he believes the course is beneficial to everyone. 

"Another great thing about this course is it has evolved so much because of the feedback from the guys returning from deployments," he said. 

Students agreed the realistic training and the adjustment of the curriculum to meet evolving combat training needs was one of the best characteristics of the course. 

The Air Force has completed 39 Threat Management Group courses since 2004. The course has also been completed in Hawaii, Alaska, Nevada and Arkansas. TMG travels to different locations to provide training if it is more practical than sending a group to South Carolina 

The company also has a curriculum for a Tactical Shooting Course and Advanced Weapons Training course and they create curriculums for specialized training requests; open to any Air Force specialty code. The majority of the instructors have served in the military and in combat.