Saturday, September 27, 2008

A Visit to EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal)

EOD used to be quite active when the MFO mission began in the early '80s. The Sinai Peninsula was (and still is) full of landmines dating back to WWII, or the 1940s for those less historically inclined. Since then, there's been the 1967 and 1973 wars with Israel, with lots of mines placed before, inbetween, and during those two wars. As a result, no wandering about in the desert for fun. Part of the introduction here is photos of the last MFO pickup to do that before they changed the rules. Simply put, an anti-tank mine will spread a pickup truck over a large area, along with the passengers. Lately, the EOD contingent is used to dispose of ordnance turned in by the Bedouins when they run across them. Which still isn't hard to do, since sand moves over time, as does items placed into it when not anchored to rock.

The first thing you'll see coming into the EOD area- a really nasty toilet. Apparently, someone has very bad aim:

Next, outside the front door is EOD's garden. Decorative items retrieved from the desert include helmets from the '40s onward, disarmed projectiles, and one Russian-built heavy machine gun barrelled receiver:

Inside, we see more items of interest. The remote control robot for investigating things when you don't want to send a person:

And shelves of things both found, and ordered as educational pieces:








4 comments:

BobG said...

Quite a museum of mayhem.

Bunnyman said...

Fascinating stuff. From a distance, at any rate.

MauserMedic said...

Bob-there were several things I would have liked to add to the collection of odds and ends at home, but the Army Post Office is particular about that.

Bunnyman- A lot of the old rusty explosive stuff comes in from Bedouins who leave it by the side of the road so it's not where there kids and camels are. The also turn some of the mines into campstoves after some disassembly.

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