EOD stand down safety day

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jason Burton
  • 75th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah --  The 775th Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal Flight recently participated in an Air Force Headquarters directed safety day for all EOD flights not operating in a hostile fire or combat zone. 

Maj. Gen. Del Eulberg, Air Force Civil Engineer, directed this safety day due to the fact that since the start of operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, joint service Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel have responded to more than 80,000 incidents. Air Force EOD Airmen have been responded to more than 24,000 of these incidents with eight EOD Airmen losing their lives and 33 Airmen receiving injuries while serving their country in support of OEF and OIF. 

In a memorandum from General Eulberg, he explained the reason and goal of the EOD safety day. 

"The United States Air Force EOD program continues to evolve as our Airmen become more ground combat oriented. The operations tempo for our EOD personnel has continued to increase since the start of operations OEF and OIF," said the General. "Many of our Airmen are experiencing a one-to-one dwell with many on their third or fourth combat tour. These factors have driven the need for us to direct a 'tactical pause' to focus on standard operating procedures; tactics, techniques, procedures and the health of our EOD warriors." 

Captain Jay Ferguson, 775th CES EOD flight commander, said by having a single day focused on reviewing and discussing different types of EOD situations, it allowed them to have in-depth conversations and learn from each other's experience. 

The EOD safety day, which took place Nov. 20, consisted of a video from General Eulberg, a discussion of recent experiences at deployed locations from Airmen whom have recently returned, an analysis of critical mistakes, as well as medical information and a segment about the mission and family. 

Airman 1st Class Christopher Rodenberg, 775th CES EOD, said he felt the safety day format was more comprehensive and allowed for more knowledge sharing than regular training. 

"Typically due to our mission requirements, everyone can't be in the shop at once for training," Airmen Rodenberg said. "With this command directed training day, we were able to sit-down as a whole shop and discuss current trends and recent experiences."
He added that since he is about to deploy, this was beneficial because it gave him the opportunity to hear individual stories from personnel he is not able to work with on a day to day basis due to the mission. 

"This reinforces the training I have done so far and helps put a face, with scenarios I have heard about," said Airmen Rodenberg, who feels that these stories and the lessons they teach carry more weight when told by a fellow Airmen than when reading it in a training manual. 

Senior Airman Benjamin Clement, 775th CES EOD, recently returned from a deployment in Iraq and said knowledge exchange is probably the most important thing EOD Airmen can do for fellow EOD technicians about to deploy. 

"With new Airmen and new team chiefs, most of them have only been able to read reports of incidents that have happened overseas, whereas during this safety day, they can pick someone's brain apart about what they did during a situation and why they made those decisions," said Airmen Clement. "That is the closest thing to actually being there." 

Another benefit of the EOD safety day besides getting the entire shop together at once, was the inclusion of medical briefings to inform EOD Airmen about Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, Traumatic Brain Injuries and different recourses available to them while deployed and after returning home. 

Master Sgt. Curtis Keel , 775th CES EOD NCO in-charge-of EOD logistics, felt the days success would not have been possible without the mandate from headquarters. 

"We are one of the largest EOD shops in the Air Force," Sergeant Keel said. "We don't have the ability to pull everyone off missions for an entire day ... but with the directive from the general, we were able to arrange our schedule to get maximum participation." 

Sergeant Keel added that a requirement at the conclusion of the EOD safety day was to forward feedback and suggestions to headquarters for review. Sergeant Keel felt the day was such a success he suggested the career field does it more frequently and in conjunction with deployment cycles so Airmen returning can exchange information with Airmen about to deploy. 

Capt. Ferguson agreed adding that the battle field changes daily and if EOD Airmen don't learn information from those returning from a deployment a good thing is being wasted. 

"This was a very valuable day because we are a career field that needs to take the time to review past experiences, discuss them and learn everything we can to keep ourselves and our teammates safe."