48th CES EOD flight demolishes IED training Published Oct. 31, 2017 By Airman 1st Class Christopher S. Sparks 48th Fighter Wing Public Affiars ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England -- Members of the 48th Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal flight conducted improvised explosive device training Oct. 26-30, here. The training included all members of the flight, from new Airmen to leadership, allowing them to earn certification or refresh their skills. “The importance of this training is getting our 3-levels practicing their certification for their 5–level and our 5-levels to their 7-level,” said an EOD technician assigned to the 48th CES. For three days EOD members conducted simulations of two different IED situations on base each day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The 48th CES EOD Airmen were also tested on how operations run, what vehicles they would take, what tools they would use, the amount of people needed, the proper procedures and who’d they notify in these situations. “Our job is pretty much continual training,” said the EOD technician. “We train every week, all year round.” The team has a variety of resources to keep them trained and ready to complete their mission. “We have an IED building lab here in the shop,” he said. “We have all the components here. We even have one guy in training designated to build IEDs.” Each month the EOD flight focuses on a different aspect of training to keep their skills sharp and ensure their team is ready to go at a moment’s notice. “Our goal is to do no-notice training with no failures,” he said. “If it happens in real life, you don’t get a heads up. We need to be able to perform our jobs or somebody gets hurt.” The training also focused on peacetime and wartime operations, which is what would be seen on a deployment where the danger is real and people’s lives are at stake. “As soon as a conflict arises or we’re requested, we’re expected to be ready,” he said. “No practice time.”