Suiting up

Senior Airman Kelly Zimmerman and Airman 1st Class Javier Martinez, help Staff Sgt. Daniel Hunsinger suit-up in an explosive ordnance disposal bomb suit Jan. 5 in Great Falls, Mont. The EOD team was called out to investigate a suspicious package at a bank off-base. Once the situation was clear, the bank was re-opened for business. The Airmen are 341st Civil Engineer Squadron EOD technicians stationed at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Eydie Sakura)

EOD responds to suspicious package

Published Jan. 7, 2009
By Senior Airman Dillon White
341st Missile Wing Public Affairs Office

MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. -- Members from the 341st Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal team responded to a suspicious package found near Wells Fargo Bank at 1400 3rd St. N.W. in Great Falls, Mont., Jan. 5.

The Great Falls Police Department contacted EOD after a bank employee notified police of the package which had been left near the bank's ATM since Friday. This was not the only thing that raised suspicions, said Staff Sgt. Daniel Hunsinger, 341st Civil Engineer Squadron EOD operations NCO in charge

"The box didn't have official packaging," Sergeant Hunsinger said. "The company [logo] was hand-written on the box in [permanent] marker and had a tear. It was held together with Scotch tape instead of packaging tape."

The team first attempted remote procedures with the HD-1 robot to inspect the package, but technical difficulties rendered the equipment inoperable.

"I put on the bomb suit and used hook-and-line equipment to open the package,"
he said.

After the EOD technician attached the hooks to the box, he took cover behind the EOD van. From that position, Sergeant Hunsinger was able to manipulate the hooks with lengths of line to open the package.

"Low and behold, it was full of receipt rolls and deposit envelopes for the ATM," he said. "Just a false alarm."

The EOD team responds to suspicious packages roughly once a month, and constantly trains for the mission, said Senior Airman Kelly Zimmerman, 341st CES EOD technician.
"[Improvised explosive devices] are a constant threat," she said. "No matter what it is, if someone thinks it is suspicious, we will respond. That is our job, and if it doesn't turn out to be anything, we don't mind."