‘Extremely courageous’: Navy EOD team stars in G4 Network series - Entertainment, TV, Television - Navy Times

‘Extremely courageous’: Navy EOD team stars in G4 Network series

Chase Holzhauer is in a pickle. The rookie member of his bomb team, with a video controller in his hand as he sits yards away in his vehicle, has just steered the last of his team’s three robots into a hole in a desert area of Afghanistan believed to contain a buried roadside bomb.

Just as his chief, seconds earlier, had warned him not to do.

Meanwhile, in a bustling village in another part of the country, a narrow bridge puts a stop to Ricky Thibeault’s convoy. The veteran tech but newbie to his bomb team wants his beefy, protective vehicle to detonate the buried improvised explosive device villagers say is on the other side. So, onto Plan B. Thibeault takes a breath and steps out of his vehicle, going on foot toward the bridge, and spots the IED, a ragtag assortment of stumps, blocks and wires that lead to a buried pressure plate. Step or drive on it, and get blown to bits.

These are two of the intense moments in “Rules of Engagement,” the first episode in the 10-part HD reality series “Bomb Patrol: Afghanistan” that premiered Oct. 25 on the G4 Network. New episodes of the series narrated by actor Josh Duhamel will air Tuesdays.

Holzhauer and Thibeault aren’t Hollywood stars. They don’t have Screen Actors Guild cards. They’re real explosive ordnance disposal technicians — third and first class petty officers, respectively — and members of the Navy’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 3 based in Coronado, Calif.

They and six other members of Platoon 3-4-2 star in this groundbreaking series developed and produced by Big Fish Entertainment to cover — with full military support — the platoon’s five-month deployment to Afghanistan.

Big Fish approached the Navy with the idea, and the brass took an immediate liking.

“EOD techs are one of the weapon systems to counter the IED, and we wanted the opportunity to highlight their accomplishments,” said Rear Adm. Michael Tillotson, the Navy’s senior EOD tech and head of Navy Expeditionary Combat Command. The Navy liked the idea that the show wasn’t just a documentary, that “it would actually be no-kidding real life,” Tillotson said.

“What you are going to see ... is a real-life story of a group of young Americans that are extremely courageous and extremely brave,” he said. The Navy has lost 15 EOD techs since the wars began in 2001, and some 40 techs have received serious injuries.

A small production team tagged along for the entire combat tour, amassing more than 4,000 hours of footage that Big Fish is editing into the 10-part series.

Viewers soon will realize what’s notable about this series, compared with other shows and documentaries: Some 15 cameras and microphones mounted on tactical vehicles and on the men’s helmets provide a unique, up-close-and-personal view of combat. Judging by the first episode, the show is sure to offer healthy doses of conflict, adrenaline, drama and comedic relief.

“I’m pretty stoked to be part of the show,” Holzhauer said.