ORTING—
Only once a year, bomb squads from across the region get together to blow stuff up in an attempt to smoke the enemy.It happens deep in the back country of Orting.
"This is an exercise we call raven's challenge," says Special Agent Brennan Phillips with the ATF. "It's an inner agency bomb disposal exercise for the bomb squads throughout the Northwest region."
About a dozen agencies from Portland, Washington and Canada take turns blowing up everything from pipes to cars for three-straight days. But it's not for fun, bomb experts use the experience and information to save lives.
"Obviously military folks are doing counter e-u-d work in Iraq and Afghanistan routinely," says Special Agent Phillips, "They're learning all kinds of things from that work and so they bring that back and share that with law enforcement folks and vice versa."
Hands on is the only way to learn these tactics, so every wire and every explosion is knowledge used against the enemy, and each victory, is measured in smoke.
"That's what we're training for," says Sgt. Roger Toles with the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, "large vehicle bombs, terrorist events, and just the everyday explosive calls that we get."
The event this year is hosted by Pierce County and is paid for through a Homeland Security grant, because it's not just local agencies who benefit.
