The Pentagon has identified the three airmen killed Jan. 7 by an improvised explosive device in the Baghdad area. They were: TSgt. Timothy R. Weiner, 35, of Tamarac, Fla.; SrA. Elizabeth A. Loncki, 23, of New Castle, Del.; and SrA. Daniel B. Miller Jr., 24, from Galesburg, Ill. All three explosive ordnance disposal airmen were deployed to Iraq from Hill AFB, Utah. The Pentagon release did not identify the fourth airman who was injured.
Over the past 20 years, military explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) technicians have become very good at using high-tech tools like robots, communications jammers, smartphones, and next-generation bomb suits to disable improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in crowded urban environments. When it comes to a possible conflict with a near-peer adversary like…