ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE BASE TINDAL, Australia -- When Royal Australian Air Force Flight Sgt. Peter Douglass brought more than 20 U.S. service members out into the "bush," he didn't have a nature walk in mind - he wanted to display the powerful effects of various types of explosives used around the world by terrorists.
The group of service members who witnessed the explosive display is currently participating in Exercise Southern Frontier 2007 here. Southern Frontier has been held between the U.S. forces and RAAF in Australia since 1994 and is necessary to keep force interoperability as well as ensure peace and stability within the region.
Arriving in early morning chill to the dense brush on the outskirts of the base, the group of eager Marines and sailors was greeted by Douglass. After quick introductions, the demonstration kicked off with a select group of RAAF equipment used by Douglass and his explosive ordnance disposal team.
"This just gives (Marines) a step up from sitting in a classroom looking through Power Point slides all day," said Douglass, the 322 Expeditionary Combat Support Squadron base armament manager and native of Wyong, New South Wales.
A bomb suit, the Australian military's F-88 Austeyr assault rifle, sheet explosive, and other improvised explosive device-making materials were on display and available for any of the Marines to get a close up look.
"The rifle was pretty cool," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Justin Carr, Marine Aircraft Group 12 religious program specialist and native of Houston. "I especially liked the mounted scope. I wish I brought my camera to take a picture with it."
After the gear demonstration, things got much louder.
Starting off with detonating a blasting cap, a round metallic cylinder a third the size of a pencil used to trigger larger explosions, Douglass quickly upped the ante with larger explosions.
One of the highlights for many of the onlookers was the simulated letter bomb. Using sheet explosive, which is undetectable inside an envelope to the average person, Douglass showed what happens to an office desk when it contains something more dangerous than bills.
"Stand by," said Douglass signaling the desk's demise.
Boom!
The once-operable piece of office furniture was torn apart into dozens of indiscernible desk fragments.
"That was a little scary," said Carr. "It was very eye opening to see the amount of damage that can be done by something the size of an envelope.”
For the climax of the demonstration, Douglass strung together six separate explosive devices simulating a "daisy chain" - a tactic of wiring multiple IEDs together to detonate simultaneously, inflicting a greater amount of damage to an unsuspecting convoy.
"That was pretty awesome," said Carr with a grin.
When asked why he sets up demonstrations like this, Douglass answers quick and matter-of-factly.
"A lot of these guys are going to be in the desert (Iraq) at some point, so hopefully they can benefit from this and get somewhat acclimated to the stuff they might see out there."