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Bomb busters: How the Air Force's bomb squad assists police in explosive disposal

In 2017, the EOD team at Travis Air Force base responded to more calls for assistance with military munitions from local law enforcement than any other unit in the Air Force.

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For years, the Department of Defense has spent billions of dollars cleaning up former military installations where bombs and other munitions were tested or deployed. The Environmental Protection Agency says millions of acres of these sites are now being used for other purposes — such as homes, shops, offices, and parks.

While the DOD is working to assess these areas, and prioritize them for cleanup, often it’s civilians who are first to come into contact with unexploded ordnance, and it's the military's responsibility to take care of it, cradle to grave.

"We have a little bit more training, a little bit more experience with the military munitions because we are military and our school specifically trains us to handle those so that’s really where we do come into play with the local law enforcement," said Technical Sergeant Michael Ault, a member of Travis' 60th Civil Engineer Squadron explosive ordnance disposal flight.

Credit: KXTV
Travis Air Force Base EOD Team

Ault said his team gets calls from local law enforcement a couple times a week, even if it’s just for some information on something they think they might have.

"Lots of things can look like they’re military ordnance, doesn’t mean they always are, but we’re always glad when anybody calls us because, you know, we’d rather be called and people be safe than the other," Ault said.

In fact, in 2017, the EOD team at Travis Air Force base responded to more calls for assistance with military munitions from local law enforcement than any other unit in the Air Force, which makes sense, considering California was found to have the greatest number of military installations with ongoing “high” and “medium risk” hazardous sites in the nation, according to an investigation by ProPublica released late last year.

But left-over munitions on defunct military bases aren’t the only calls Travis EOD receives. Many runs deal with old explosives from conflicts like the world wars, where soldiers would bring home unexploded ordnance as souvenirs.

Credit: KXTV
Travis Air Force Base EOD Team

"We're not just responsible for the stuff that we create cradle to grave," said Ault. "We are the federal response asset to all military munitions, doesn't matter what country it comes from. So, if somebody's grandfather came back with one of these Japanese grenades from WWII, then we would be responsible for responding to that."

Senior Airmen Ken Park, another member of the unit, recalled one of the calls he came across before transferring to Travis. Park's team was called out to assess a mortar round that had been found in the toolbox of a man who'd recently passed away.

"He had been using it as a hammer for 60 years," Park said, smiling. "It's our responsibility to get these things back, get people safe and just take care of it. So, it might be sitting under couple tons of earth, but somebody wants to put a housing development in, and now it's ours again."

Follow the conversation with Michael Anthony Adams on Facebook.

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