Sometimes I can’t believe how lucky I am to have this job.
This past Monday I was given a one-on-one tour of the SFPD Bomb Squad. I realize that might not be everyone’s idea of a good time, but geek that I am, I was positively giddy.
For over two hours I got to see the inner workings of the bomb squad, from the various trucks and equipment in their warehouse to the robots they use to check out suspicious packages. A few things I learned:
- Many of the most dangerous calls that they get start out this way: Grandpa passes on. Turns out he was a WWII vet in the Pacific Theater. While cleaning out his apartment, relatives stumble across the live ordnance he took home as a souvenir. The officer who
gave me the tour said that his first call out involved a mortar made out of a highly dangerous and unstable primary explosive, picric acid. They’d all handled the darn thing before one member of the squad turned it around, saw the Japanese characters, and realized that one wrong move could blow the whole place. Fortunately, they made it to their containment unit outside safely (check out the photo of their containment unit. It strongly resembles one of those underwater mines. Any time they pick up explosive material, it gets put in here for the trek back across the city). - Anyone else see THE HURT LOCKER? I was a little disheartened to learn that bomb techs consider it to be roughly equivalent to TOP GUN in terms of accuracy. However, he said they did get the suits right. Eighty pounds of suit, although thanks to the even weight distribution, the cop said that if you needed to run in one, you could (I’m guessing that under those circumstances, adrenaline helps tremendously). Even in our famously temperate sixty degree weather, the suits become extraordinarily hot and uncomfo
rtable after a few minutes. I asked how they decided which unlucky squad member is sent out in it, and he told me that they usually Rochambeau for it–however, the winner GETS to wear the suit. Apparently being the guy tucked safely in the command vehicle watching everything unfold onscreen is viewed as the unlucky one. Go figure. - The suit is topped by what they call the “Helm of Ignorance,” which he was kind enough to let me try on. Unlike the military ones depicted in HURT LOCKER, theirs do not have the capability for radio communication–which he thought was a good thing, since it would mainly serve as a distraction. And distractions are not good when working with explosives.
- Here in San Francisco, all ten members of the bomb squad are SCUBA certified, since they also respond to any threats at the port. They’re also all trained in tactical response, since they share the warehouse with SWAT. That way if anything major goes down, they’re able to serve as a backup unit.
- I asked the nice young man who gave me the tour why he decided to join this particular unit, and how his mother felt about it. He explained that he’d initially been working out of
the Bayview/Hunters Point Station (one of the worst neighborhoods here in SF). But after he got married and had kids, he figured it would be a good idea to transfer to a safer unit. So he joined the bomb squad. That’s right, the bomb squad. I couldn’t help but wonder if the mounted division was full. - Every bomb tech in the US spends six weeks training in-house, then goes to a school in Huntsville Alabama that’s run jointly by the FBI and the military for an additional six weeks of training. My tour was interrupting a day spent on maintenance, making sure that the robots and trucks were all in working order, the SCBA tanks full- you name it.
- Oh, and here I am with their “Big Robot,” who I strongly feel needs a better nickname. Although possibly they just don’t want to get too attached. Remember the movie SHORT CIRCUIT? Couldn’t get it out of my head the whole time I was watching this guy maneuver. The photo above this one is of a napalm bomb, which he assured me had been rendered safe. Or at least, he was pretty sure it had. It was in the workshop, so…I took that as my hint to leave.
That is so cool, Michelle. I love research like this. You’re right that it’s one of the perks of writing fiction.
My favorite bomb squad novel: Final Seconds by John Lutz and David August.
Sounds like fun, Michelle. It takes a special breed to sign up for elite units like the bomb squad. It doesn’t surprise me at all that they fight to wear the suit. When do they let you come back to blow something up?
What a great treat, Michelle. Seeing all that gear first hand sure beats reading about it on Wikipedia. I watched THE HURT LOCKER and thoroughly enjoyed it. Accurate or not, it was a thrill. Even my wife who hates “those kind” of movies, really liked it. It will be interesting to see if it can beat out AVATAR for best pix.
Way cool indeed. I spent the winter of ’99 working at a dynamite and explosives plant near Fairbanks Ak. Working in an environment where you can be disrupted at a molecular level (ie liquified) any minute sure puts a perspective on life. Also adds urgency to the love life…my third son was conceived during that time.
Sounds like great fun! You asked about ‘Hurt Locker’–I started to watch it, but left after about the third defusing run (and one explosion). It felt like nonstop tension, in an unpleasant way. I know it’s a good film, but just not for me. Same with gore films. Can’t watch ’em. I can handle violence better in books than film, interestingly. Less visceral feeling, perhaps.
Way cool Michelle! Nothing more fun than getting to play with the toys. Of course the winner gets to wear the suit. To do otherwise would be like the being the guy stuck in the orbiter when everyone else landed on the moon.
Great research . . . so can we expect stuff that goes boom in the next book?
BTW – I loved Gatekeeper. Now talk about blowing stuff up! Great ending, definitely whet my appetite for the next in the series.
How cool! This is the kind of thing that reminds me how lucky we are to get this kind of stuff for research!
I asked nicely, John, but apparently even with my top security clearance, I’m not invited to the bomb squad blowouts. Oh well.
I’m really hoping Hurt Locker wins the Oscar, but it’s a long shot. I think Avatar is going to crush the competition the way that tree was brought down in the film. I know what you mean, Kathryn- I loved HL, but it was in its own way more stressful than a monster movie.
Terri- not so much in the next book (which has already been handed in) but the one after that, which will actually (finally, for me) be set in San Francisco.
I deeply disliked The Hurt Locker–a huge disappointment because it is precisely the kind of movie that I love to love. In the end, it was just silly. Despite the presence of the whole friggin’ army, this one group of guys take on snipers (airstrike, anyone?), and do search and rescue while driving aimlessly (and alone) through the desert. I was reminded of the old Rat Patrol and Combat! television shows of my youth.
I also thought it was insulting to the real bomb squads of the world to show the quasi-psychotic protagonist disregarding not just his own safety, but that of his team members. That’s an unforgiveable sin. For me.
It’s hard, John, when you specialize in something. I cringe at so many legal thrillers, especially the courtroom scenes where judges would never allow the lawyers to do what they do.
Good girl, Michelle. There’s nothing more rewarding than doing hands-on research. If I write a gun, I’ve handled and fired it if possible. If I write a car I’ve been in it and probably driven it. Being there and talking to the real deals is how you do it. Experts like to share their craft with authors. Don’t be shy and go to the source and get that knowledge. It’s out there for you to absorb.
I have never asked for information and not gotten someone to explain it. I once went to the ferry in New Orleans and asked the pilot how I could hijack it in a story and he explained it and I used what he said. The scenes I wrote about that ferry felt so real that I got emails from ferry pilots telling me what a great accurate experience it was.
I know what you’re saying, John- I think what the film did really well, for me, was emphasize that war is a drug, as it said in the quote at the outset. And some people become addicts.
This has become particularly relevant for us since we have a close friend who did two tours in Afghanistan. He was miserable the whole time, counting down the days until he could leave. And now, after a year home, he’s leaving his family and heading back voluntarily, although he has any number of other career paths open to him.
I watched the film with him, and apparently there are guys acting just that recklessly in the theater- and teammates who consider using friendly fire to take them out. It was a very different take on the usual “band of brothers” theme, and I thought that, too, was interesting.
Other John- love the ferry story, How about you and me get some chickens and take one out one of these days…
I agree with Mr. Bell on legal thrillers. I cringe as well.
I find writing legal scenes almost as hard because so much of what we do in the courtroom is really (really) tedious.
Hard to depict the thrill of winning a 12(b)(6) motion – although in the legal world, it is a weapon of mass destruction.
I did throw a nice “Norma Rae” style tantrum in court last week and bought my clients an extra three weeks. It felt good . . .
I would have loved being there myself. I am so glad that there were no casualties.