Where the Buffalo Roam Courtesy Photo
By Sgt. 1st Class Mike Hagburg 141st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade
Soldiers from the 817th Engineer Company operated a 30-foot robotic arm, or "iron claw" from within the Buffalo to probe debris and dirt to identify objects as improvised explosive devices. The new technology was critical to successful missions.
817th Engineer Company Uses Technology, Experience for Completion of Successful Trailblazer Mission
J
amestown’s 817th Engineer Company rode a new wave of technology as it carried out its trailblazer mission in Iraq, using sophisticated systems to sniff out and destroy roadside bombs. In the end, however, the deployment was a success because of the 817th’s highly trained, hard-working and experienced Soldiers, said Capt. Craig Hillig, Fargo, the unit’s commander. To get a head start on using new bomb detection technology, six 817th Soldiers were sent to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala., for the Explosive Ordnance Clearance Agent (EOCA) course prior to the deployment. The Soldiers were given special training on locating, identifying and disposing of unexploded ordinance like improvised explosive devices and roadside bombs. Spc. Jonathan Jurgens, Grand Forks, and Spc. Dustin Kirschenmann, Fargo, attended the EOCA course. “We learned to do some of the things that EOD does,” said Jurgens. “If we came across bombs we could identify them and possibly disarm them and get rid of them,” said Kirschenmann. “Our EOCAs were worth their weight in gold” because they helped the unit deal with roadside bombs on its own, said Hillig. On route clearance missions, the EOCAs spent their days manning the Buffalo, a heavily armored truck equipped with video cameras and a robotic arm. “We call it a spork. It’s like an arm with a fork on the end,” Kirschenmann. “You can dig and find things. Ours also had an air digger. You can put a hundred PSI to the ground and blow the dirt away and clear debris. We were the cleanup crew and the investigating crew all in one.” Jurgens said that most of the unit’s Soldiers went on more than 100 route clearance missions during their Iraq deployment. “The missions took anywhere from six to eighteen The Buffalo is an armored personnel carrier designed to detect and interrogate possible improvised explosive devices while units are patrolling major and hours, just depending on what the bad guys wanted,” secondary military supply routes. said Jurgens. “There wasn’t really any day that stood 8 · Guardian · January 2009