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4 airmen awarded Bronze Star Medals

FARMINGTON, Utah — Four airmen from explosive ordnance disposal teams based at Hill Air Force Base were awarded Bronze Star Medals.

The four staff sergeants disposed of more than 117 improvised explosive devices on 355 missions in Iraq from September 2006 to January 2007. They were commended Friday for “meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service.”

The recipients were Evan R. Knight, Ogden; Bradley Kline, Hennsburg, Pa.; Steven Overstreet, Manzanita, Ore.; and William White, Waldorf, Md. The airmen serve stateside with the 775th Civil Engineering Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal Flight but were deployed separately to assist Army units with ordnance disposal.

“It was mostly a stateside mission when I came in [in 2000], until the war started, then the Army started asking for support,” Kline said. “That’s when we came in. We picked up a lot of support for them so their guys can get a breather because their guys were there all the time. They come home for a month or two, then they go back for another year.”

More than 1,380 U.S. deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan have been attributed to IEDs since July 2003, according to icasualties.org, a group that tracks casualties attributed to Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

White said the dire need for his skills has come as a surprise since he enlisted in 2000, but hes pleased he is needed.

“One thing I wanted was not to have a desk job,” he said.

Trained to sense the location of buried IEDs, White said war-zone vigilance has come home with him.

“You’re scanning the roads at all times because you have to stay vigilant for anything that’s along the side of the roads,” White said. “Even when you come stateside, you keep those habits.”

Overstreet said those who plant bombs are becoming more sophisticated.

“[IEDs] have become more popular. They’re learning to use them a lot more, understanding them more,” he said. “I’ve heard of animal carcasses, as well as human corpses and things like that.”