Combat experience of bomb-disposal teams should be codified.

• Author: Trumbore, Jeffrey
• Position: VIEWPOINT

The last 12 years of conflict have firmly established the roles of explosive ordnance disposal teams in supporting joint operations. EOD has proven to be critical during irregular and counterinsurgency warfare, and was used extensively to counter improvised explosive devices and remove unexploded bombs, known as "explosive remnants of war," in EOD lingo.

Much of EOD's success in these complex battlefields came from learning on the fly and not from the application of existing doctrine. As the joint force faces complex conflicts in the future, EOD's challenge is to identify an appropriate way to provide a solid foundation for preserving these skills and to provide commanders with the guidance required to effectively leverage these capabilities. That challenge can be met by writing doctrine.

U.S. Central Command's 1ED threat was met by the joint explosive ordnance disposal force--the one military organization that had tracked the threat, understood the technology and trained to counter homemade bombs before Sept. 11, 2001.

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It found ways to exploit intelligence recovered from IEDs and related to those charged with targeting insurgent and bomb-making cells. It created post-IED blast procedures to collect this technical and forensic evidence. It developed techniques to render IEDs safe, and technologies to defeat the bombs and protect service members. It also developed tactics to remove unexploded bombs as a source of enemy explosives.

While each of the solutions had significant tactical effects on efforts to defeat insurgents, they also had strategic-level impacts. Over time, the growing importance and complexity of the operations resulted in the establishment of counter--IED task forces--one each in Iraq and Afghanistan--led by explosive ordnance disposal officers.

Clearly, joint EOD's experience had evolved into a broad range of capabilities that directly affected the success of operations. These capabilities need to be fully captured in doctrine. An April Government Accountability Office report, "Explosive Ordnance Disposal: DoD Needs Better Resource Planning and Joint Guidance to Manage the Capability" came to the same conclusion.

Codifying joint capabilities in the doctrine joint publication set is critical to the future of the EOD force. As noted in the GAO report, "The services are disadvantaged with respect to EOD capabilities, knowledge and use because DoD has not developed joint doctrine in the form of a joint...