US Army Pacific’s newly established Asia-Pacific Counter-Improvised Explosive Device (C-IED) Center provides service members stationed in the Pacific access to cutting-edge training in the fight to defeat improvised explosive devices.

Improvised explosive devices are currently the leading cause of casualties to troops deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. IEDs are defined as make-shift or “homemade” bombs often used by enemy forces to destroy military convoys.

“The IED threat and our efforts to defeat the threat are top priorities for the Department of Defense (DoD), the Army and USAPAC,” said Col. Stanley Toy, Director of the Counter-IED Fusion Center with the US Army Pacific.

“The Asia-Pacific Counter-Improvised Explosive Device Center is focused on defeating the weapon causing the greatest number of casualties in Afghanistan, Iraq and in the Asia-Pacific area of operations,” Toy said.

US Army Pacific’s Counter-IED Fusion Center, run by Toy and situated in the command’s headquarters at Fort Shafter, was developed to combine intelligence gathering, training and a knowledge centre to defeat IEDs in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Asia-Pacific countries where IEDs are an increasing threat.

The curriculum at the Counter-IED Center, or “Counter-IED University,” as Toy puts it, is designed to teach troops at all levels about the basics of counter IED operations. The goal of the course is to give deploying troops greater freedom of movement when they operate in areas where IEDs are regularly used, said Toy.