U.S. bomb techs honor their dead; 2006 worst year since '45
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U.S. bomb techs honor their dead; 2006 worst year since '45
By MELISSA NELSON
Associated Press Writer
The abandoned truck-mounted rocket launcher didn't belong on a road approaching sprawling Camp Liberty in Iraq.
Sgt. Timothy Weiner, Airman Elizabeth Loncki and Airman Daniel Miller Jr. - a three-member bomb disposal unit known as "Team Lima" - responded.
The trio first sent a robot to inspect the truck. Then Weiner, the team leader and a career bomb technician, donned protective gear and took what technicians call "the lonely walk," the first approach to a suspected explosive. He returned.
The three then walked toward the truck without protective gear - and it exploded.
In an instant last Jan. 7, Team Lima was gone.
Weiner, a 35-year-old father who wrote of his concern for Iraqi children.
Loncki, 23 and engaged, but always a daddy's girl.
Miller, 24, a handsome daredevil who got in trouble for playing with fireworks as child.
Back in Delaware, Florida, Illinois, New York and Utah, families had been in touch with Team Lima over Christmas and had been weeks from welcoming their loved ones home from a six-month deployment. They planned funerals instead.
The families gathered again Saturday, this time in the Florida Panhandle. Team Lima's names, along with 11 others, were to be added during an annual memorial honoring military bomb technicians killed in action since 1942. The Navy's Kauffman Explosives Ordnance Disposal Training Complex on Eglin Air Force Base trains bomb technicians from all branches of the military...
By MELISSA NELSON
Associated Press Writer
The abandoned truck-mounted rocket launcher didn't belong on a road approaching sprawling Camp Liberty in Iraq.
Sgt. Timothy Weiner, Airman Elizabeth Loncki and Airman Daniel Miller Jr. - a three-member bomb disposal unit known as "Team Lima" - responded.
The trio first sent a robot to inspect the truck. Then Weiner, the team leader and a career bomb technician, donned protective gear and took what technicians call "the lonely walk," the first approach to a suspected explosive. He returned.
The three then walked toward the truck without protective gear - and it exploded.
In an instant last Jan. 7, Team Lima was gone.
Weiner, a 35-year-old father who wrote of his concern for Iraqi children.
Loncki, 23 and engaged, but always a daddy's girl.
Miller, 24, a handsome daredevil who got in trouble for playing with fireworks as child.
Back in Delaware, Florida, Illinois, New York and Utah, families had been in touch with Team Lima over Christmas and had been weeks from welcoming their loved ones home from a six-month deployment. They planned funerals instead.
The families gathered again Saturday, this time in the Florida Panhandle. Team Lima's names, along with 11 others, were to be added during an annual memorial honoring military bomb technicians killed in action since 1942. The Navy's Kauffman Explosives Ordnance Disposal Training Complex on Eglin Air Force Base trains bomb technicians from all branches of the military...
See Entire Story on The Daily Commet's Web Site at:
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