CRESTVIEW — You never know what you’ll find while hiking, hunting or fishing on the Eglin Air Force Base reservation, but if it’s manmade, avoid it because it might explode.
That’s a basic lesson students in the Crestview High School outdoor education classes learned Wednesday when members of the 96th Civil Engineers Squadron’s explosive ordnance disposal team visited.
Students in instructor Ernie Martin’s third and fourth period classes got to see and handle inert explosives including a rocket, an old-fashioned bomb, grenades and anti-personnel munitions.
“Anything that can kill you, we kinda take care of,” Staff Sgt. Adam Wood said, explaining his team’s mission.
His colleague, Staff Sgt. Dan Sloan, said given Eglin’s mission as a testing facility, it’s not unusual to occasionally find unexploded munitions, some dating as far back as before World War II.
“If you can’t identify it visually, it’s probably not a good idea to touch it,” Martin told those students who hunt and hike on the reservation.
“Call Jackson Barracks if you find something,” Sloan advised. “Don’t ever think of taking these home as cool souvenirs. While you may get lucky, eventually someone is going to touch it and they won’t get lucky.”
The visitors described the evolution of munitions from the four-finned old bomb Wood displayed to today’s smart weapons.
“When they dropped that (bomb), they had a general idea where it was going to go,” Wood said. “Now we can send a bomb through a single window.”
E.O.D. CHIC
The students took turns modeling an armored EOD suit and operating the controls of a tracked robot. With its four cameras and the ability to carry a gun or explosives, “we can send the robot into harm’s way instead of ourselves,” Senior Airman Josh Frehner said.
Sloan and Airman Michael Carter helped Liliana Smith, a petit freshman, into the suit. The girl visibly sagged as each piece of clothing was attached until she was crowned by the heavy helmet.
Liliana said she felt like an astronaut must feel as she sluggishly tried to walk around the room in the cumbersome green suit.
“This is one small step for outdoor education,” she said, paraphrasing astronaut Neil Armstrong’s moon landing quote before almost toppling over.
To qualify for EOD certification, students are laid on their backs and must stand upright while wearing the suit, so Sloan and Carter carefully assisted Liliana to the floor. She managed to roll onto her chest, but was unable to get her knees under her to stand up.
“You know, there’s another class coming in here soon,” Martin joked as she struggled before the airmen lifted her to her feet.
“That was pretty cool!” Liliana said, once relieved of the suit.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Eglin EOD team brings things that go boom to CHS outdoor ed