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Army divers make dam breach possible

Meet the behind-the-scenes soldiers whose work makes breach possible

By Brian Baer
fredericksburg.com

Date published: 2/20/2004

Come Monday at noon, important elected officials will take their premium seats.

Residents will throw down old blankets and unfold dusty lawn chairs. And curious schoolchildren will delight in missing class to watch, as best they understand, something really cool blow up.

In all, thousands of spectators are expected to show up for the first stage of the Embrey Dam demolition.

When you're standing on your toes, scraping for position and casting wide eyes toward the dam, take a second to scan the tree-lined hill on the north side of the river.

There, inside the much-ballyhooed security zone, you might catch a glimpse of the guys who made this day possible.

And, no, we're not talking about Sen. John Warner, the public face of the dam's destruction.

For the past several days, members of the Army Dive Company have donned dry suits, popped in ear plugs and perched themselves in 33-degree water for four or five hours at a time.

Sound daunting?

Now consider that the soldiers also operated a 60-pound jackhammer drill to put up to 200 holes in the concrete structure you're about to watch crumble.

Sometime before noon Monday, the divers will pack each hole with explosives, 600 pounds in all.

If they’ve done their job, the result should be a 100-foot gap in the Embrey dam.

The dam was built in 1910 to generate electricity, but has been obsolete for years. Breaching the dam will allow spawning fish to move upriver and will eventually allow paddlers to continue their trips without pulling out of the water.

The divers work in two- and sometimes three-person teams.

This weekend, they’re working 24 hours to make sure they’re ready on time.

In many cases, the force of the drill is so intense that while one man punches holes, the other soldier holds the drill operator to keep him from falling back into the water.

At times, the divers work on scaffolding to reach higher points of the dam.

Their superiors use hand signals to communicate with the divers. With the water rushing over the dam and the rat--tat-tat of the drill, even shouting doesn't work.

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Date published: 2/20/2004