Bomb Squad

[retired]

Hoe many years do you have in law enforcement and what assignments have you worked so far? The usual path is patrol, FTO property, CAP,s, Sgt etc. Bomb Squad is an odd one. It's almost like a department within a department. Do you have military EOD experience?

My former dept. doesn't require one to be a sgt. to work the bomb squad. Being a detective somewhere in the dept. is generally necessary tho.

[spy-d]

Being a E.O.D. is very dangerest. You may want to reconsider this.
Trying to disarm a bomb is not a job for someone that has a family.
There is a ton of training, Knowlage of explosives, and how things work.

Unless you know something about timers, tilt switches, explosives and the
lot, Don't join up. If you are asked to join, that is different.

BUT, If all you want to do is to prance around in a bombsuit saying " LOOK AT ME, I AM ON THE BOMB SQUAD", I would NOT want you around.

Please remember, The second you walk up to that I.E.D., There is a 90% chance you are going to die. And you better not be drinking any coffee.

How do I know about this? I use to hold an Explosive Permit from 1974 till 1986.
And I had 2 very close calls.

[Notorious]

Yep, it's like being a fireman. You can't negotiate or outthink or bet on the human element coming out in your favor.

Bombs and fire have no sympathy.

[spy-d]

I have worked on miss-fires in the past, so I do know what I say is true. You have no idea WHEN that bomb will go off. Thank god for robots.
I remember one day, we had a miss-fire. The charges were set, and the current was launched. Nothing happened. Fired again.... nothing. At that time, we have to wait for I think it was 1/2 hour, and tried again.

After 2 hours, I decided to primed a second charged and headed to the site.
There was no way we could get a second charge close enough to the first charge. Boring a second hole was out of the question, and a water shot was not invented at the time. Armed with only a hard-hat and a long spoon, I had to remove all the filler down to the charge. All the wires were in place, But our meter showed that the charge did go off.
I was able to get the second charged down that hole toward the first charge.
As I left, I lit the fuse on the 6-foot and walked away to our safe zone.

The charge went off with a very loud bang. Bigger than we expected.
We won that round.

I now have a little girl under my wing, And I will never chase a miss-fire, Hang-fire, or a dead shot ever again. I am 56, and I don't think I can talk to a bomb or an UXB, IED or what ever you think of.