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JBSA News
NEWS | June 13, 2008

Lackland trainees learn to deal with IEDs

By Reggie Thompson 37th Training Wing Public Affairs

A line of trainees at Lackland's Improvised Explosive Device Training Lane advances along the training course in the early afternoon heat.

"What do you see?" asks the instructor. "I need to hear you talking!"

Trainees respond with the potential hiding spots for IEDs along the path.

Suddenly, the group is enveloped in a rush of charcoal and dirt. They have just encountered one of the many simulated IEDs along the route.

Since January, the 2.5-hour IED training plan within the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives, or CBRNE, course of basic military training has prepared Lackland trainees for potential risk during deployments.

The course is funded and organized by the Joint IED Defeat Organization, which provided more than $330,000 in funds, equipment and expendable material.

For the 737th Training Support Squadron's Tech. Sgt. David Nolen, the main purpose of the training program can be summed up in a single word.

"Awareness," said Sergeant Nolen. "Just being aware, nothing beyond that. Just straight up awareness." 

In addition to raising trainees' consciousness about potential threats on the battlefield, the course also teaches them to identify the various types of IEDs.

The Crawl phase of the program fulfills this requirement as trainees learn how different types of explosive devices function.

The Walk phase of IED training moves trainees to the next level of instruction. Several static displays with mock-ups of explosive booby traps found in combat situations are presented during a 45-minute lecture.

According to Sergeant Nolen, roughly 95 percent of the funds and materials for the training course, including these displays, are supplied by JIEDDO.

The Run phase, held each day at the quarter-mile IED Training Lane, emphasizes identification of and appropriate reaction to various camouflaged devices.

Several of these are mock explosions created by charcoal-and-air-filled balloons bursting. Each time students encounter a simulated explosive, instructors analyze and discuss it with the training group.

The specific location, type and situation are all covered to heighten IED awareness.

Considerable quantities of debris and decoys recreate conditions that Airmen would face in a combat situation.

They are designed to make participants learn what elements they must pay attention to.

"Yesterday was the first time a trainee stopped short of those," said Sergeant Nolen, gesturing toward several discarded artillery casings.

These decoys sometimes encourage individuals to stop and investigate them, leaving the main body of the group exposed to a simulated IED explosion.

According to Sergeant Nolen, the order and frequency with which booby traps on the range detonate varies.

This also recreates battlefield situations that Airmen may potentially encounter.

"Not every insurgent gets it right every time," he explained. "Sometimes these don't go off at the same time."

The different simulated devices are concealed at various points on the range.

One pressure-sensitive plate connected to an alarm is so well-hidden that trainees regularly activate it.

According to Sergeant Nolen, trainees kneel on the plate, which is concealed under a fine layer of dirt.

Because of these challenges, the Run phase of IED training focuses on identifying potential threats before a unit walks into them. Instructors encourage trainees to look for telltale signs of camouflaged devices.

These indicators are often rocks, tree branches or suspiciously-placed piles of trash that may conceal an IED or its wires.

The IED training program at Lackland will expand in December with the addition of the Sprint phase of instruction.

This segment of the course will occur on the Basic Expeditionary Airman Skills Training, or BEAST, site at the Lackland training annex.

Students at the BEAST site will have a specific mission, moving from one point to another across IED-laden territory.

There will also be no alarms at the new location, as all encounters will result in simulated explosions.

According to Sergeant Nolen, the requirements for this new stage will be quite demanding, as once trainees set off a device, they are finished with the level.

"That's how it is in real life," he said. "You rarely get second chances."

According to Sergeant Nolen, trainees at the new facility will also operate in smaller groups of 11 instead of the 50 to 65 individuals that currently negotiate the course daily.

All of these changes are intended to further enhance IED instruction during BMT.

Sergeant Nolen acknowledged the inherent difficulty of detecting IEDs.

"This stuff's just too hard to find sometimes," he said.

'It's a very hard task our guys are undertaking over there. They're running a gantlet every time they go outside the wire."