Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
7:48 | Operating stateside, Mike Vining’s EOD unit was tasked with assisting the Secret Service with large scale events. During a Presidential election event where Senator Bob Dole was visiting Quincy, IL, the town would be rocked by a nearby explosion and subsequent bomb threats. (Part 1 of 2)
Keywords : Secret Service EOD(Explosive Ordnance Disposal) Bob Dole Senator Ken Foster Jim Smith George Sledge
Mike Vining details his early life growing up in rural Michigan. Members of his family had been serving in the U.S. military in different capacities dating back to the Revolutionary War, and his love of science would lead him to be a career soldier.
While he was finishing high school in 1968, the war in Vietnam had taken a major turn. Mike Vining details the state of the world when he decided to enlist and volunteer to see it for himself. He also discusses his cousin who went over before him, and some of the men from back home who didn’t make it back.
When he put in for EOD school, Mike Vining was taught how to maintain the ammunition supplies and how to dispose of unsafe materials. He also discusses a major safety hazard that came with allowing unqualified people into the program.
EOD School was not as physically tough as it was one of the more educationally difficult. Mike Vining describes the phases of his EOD training, including the in depth education on nuclear weapons, the threat of which loomed during the height of the Cold War.
In 1970, Mike Vining would make his first deployment to serve in Vietnam. The war in the beginning phases of winding down, but that didn’t mean he would be short of work with the 99th Ordnance Detachment in III Corps.
During the Cambodian Incursion, the 1st Cavalry Division was flown in to secure a massive cache of Vietnamese weapons and ammunition. As part of their EOD detachment, Mike Vining was brought in to destroy it, but getting out would be much more difficult.
Incoming mortars and rockets were a threat all over Vietnam, no matter where you were. Mike Vining describes one such event where an ammo dump had caught fire and was burning dangerously.
The booby traps in Vietnam were prolific and killed and wounded many. Mike Vining discusses some of the techniques the VC and NVA would employ against American forces, as well as American efforts to do the same to them.
Working around explosives is naturally a dangerous endeavor, and American EOD experts suffered a number of casualties over the years. Mike Vining discusses some of the bombs that were WWII relics and the transition to, and legacy of, the BLU-82 “Daisy Cutter”.
Vietnam was a testing ground for all sorts of new weapons and tactics. Mike Vining details the implementation of a new experimental type of ammunition, the XM-74, and how it’s chemical components presented an extreme hazard for his EOD team when one got loose.
Mike Vining describes some classified munitions he had to deal with at Fire Support Base Audie after the enemy attacked and artillery was called in to stop them.
There wasn’t much that would save you if munitions were detonating by you, and Mike Vining details the one time he wore a flak jacket in Vietnam.
After his tour in Vietnam, Mike Vining returned to the civilian world and landed a job in a factory. The shift was fine and the pay was right, but the working conditions were plenty dangerous. Despite the Army’s reduction in force, he was able to reenlist, but on one condition.
The Secret Service had removed Senator Dole, but Mike Vining and his team were left in Quincy, IL to deal with the remaining bomb threats which ended tragically. (Part 2 of 2)
Mike Vining was looking for a change in his military career, and he wanted to put in to be a Special Forces Medic. At that time, Charlie Beckwith was developing a new unit based on his experiences with the British SAS, and Vining’s EOD experience would be a critical part of this new experiment, now known as Delta Force.
Mountain climbing was more than a pastime for Mike Vining, who describes how it served as an escape as well as a professional skill.
In 1983, the U.S. engaged in a mission to rescue a group of medical students on the island of Grenada, which had recently undergone a Marxist coup. The Special Operations community was still young on the heels of Operation Eagle Claw, and Mike Vining discusses his role in the mission.
Mike Vining discusses his upcoming book, “Blasting Through,” where he’ll go into more details about his career, leadership, having and being a mentor, and his thoughts on moral injury.
