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EOD Warriors

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Keith Welch
  • 325 Civil Engineer Squadron commander
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  If you have been in the Air Force longer than a couple of years, you probably know what EOD stands for: Explosive Ordnance Disposal. You may have also seen an EOD team respond to a bomb threat or suspicious package incident with their robot. I must confess, after spending 16 years in the Air Force as an officer and civil engineer, that was all I knew of the EOD career field - that is, until I took command of the Civil Engineer Squadron here at Tyndall and got to know EOD better. 

Although EOD's primary mission is to support the flying mission, their responsibility does not stop at the fence line. They are also tasked with safely recovering every unexploded military munitions found on land anywhere in the southeast region. In fact, recently a team from Tyndall was called to respond to an aircraft crash at Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi. The two-person team spent a day and a half hand digging to reach the ejection seats that were buried deep in the ground. As you might imagine, they received some criticism for hand digging since it took so long. But the team remained focused because they understood the risks involved and they were well trained. In the end, all the critics were silenced when they finally reached the seats and found the trigger for one of the rocket motors hanging on by a mere thread. It was clear that much more than evidence and a little time would have been lost if the rockets had triggered by a careless use of heavy equipment. 

Since 9-11, the 960 Air Force warriors who wear the EOD badge, known as "the crab," have been "all in" fighting and dying on the front lines of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Virtually every Airman in the career field spends six months of each year at war and the remaining six months "at home." They reconnect with their loved ones when they can. But knowing they will be at war again in just a few short months motivates them to train hard, honing their edge physically, mentally, and technically. Such a tempo puts extreme stress on individuals and families, but EOD technicians love what they do and most are eager to go when they are called. 

Recently, the Air Force (and Team Tyndall) did EOD Airmen a great service by creating a training course right here at Tyndall's Silver Flag site that is specifically tailored to prepare EOD teams for deployment. The course has cut pre-deployment time from eight weeks to three. The obvious benefit is that Airmen have more time with their families. But the new course, taught partly by recently returned deployers, does a better job of preparing teams for the constantly evolving tactics of our enemies. 

It is clear the tactic of choice for our adversaries in Afghanistan and Iraq is the improvised explosive device, or IED, because they are cheap to produce, capable of causing massive destruction, and can be triggered remotely. Because IEDs are the number one cause of coalition casualties, disrupting and defeating the infrastructure that produces them has become our number one priority, and the task falls to the joint EOD team. This is a mission that Chief Master Sgt. Robert Hodges, the Air Force EOD Career Field Manager, likes to call "moving left of the boom." The idea is to gather technical intelligence about IEDs in order to find out who made the bomb, kill them before they can make more, and develop countermeasures to defeat the bomb before it can harm coalition forces. In practical terms it means EOD technicians must pick through the rubble of recent explosions to find clues to the bomber's identity and tactics. As you might imagine, the bad guys don't like to be discovered, so they have found many creative ways (like snipers, and secondary devices) to target Weapons Intelligence Teams. We have lost several Airmen performing such missions, but countless other lives have been saved through their efforts. 

Obviously, tracking down the makers of IEDs in a mountainous country like Afghanistan cannot be done from the safety of a base or from inside an armored vehicle. So our Airmen are spending a great deal of time on patrols with the Marines, Army, and Special Forces operating from Forward Operating Bases. Air Force EOD teams now find themselves hiking for days at a time, sleeping under the stars, getting caught in fire fights, and literally kicking down doors to find and disrupt the bomb-making cottage industry. Needless to say, they feel compelled to do a bit more Physical Training than your basic Air Force PT test requires. 

Any casual review of the news will reveal that stopping bomb-makers is not always possible. It is clear there are still roadside bombs threatening coalition forces that must be defused. Explosive Ordinance Disposal technicians are in such high demand, it is not uncommon for them to go 48 hours without any meaningful sleep. They may return from a dismounted patrol and lay their heads down for a few hours before getting a call to help a convoy stopped in its tracks by a roadside bomb. The combination of a very dangerous, technically demanding task, performed under time pressure in a sleep-deprived state has proven deadly for many EOD Airmen. Despite the danger, our EOD Airmen continue to put themselves in harm's way to protect others because they are motivated by an understanding of how their job contributes to the larger mission.
These EOD warriors represent less than 0.3 percent of the entire Air Force. In spite of their small size, their casualty numbers are high. There have been 10 EOD Airmen killed in action since 9-11 and 48 have received the Purple Heart, seven of which have lost limbs. 

I have written this article not to claim EOD technicians are more important to our nation's defense than other Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, or Marines. I am certain they would not claim that. I have written this article to give voice to a small group of men and women in our Air Force that deserve the respect and gratitude of the nation. They derive their intense focus and motivation, not from a desire for glory or fame, but from a clear sense of purpose. That clear sense of purpose helps them perform their jobs in spite of the danger, lack of sleep, or criticism. Do you know what your purpose is? Are you willing to give 110 percent even if no one notices or appreciates it? Are you willing to sweat more in peace so we all bleed less in war? I hope this article has given you a better appreciation for the seriousness of our collective mission; and I hope it causes you to reexamine the level of effort you put into your job regardless of your position on the proverbial spear. The pointy end of a spear is important, but it isn't very effective without a good shaft.