Saving lives earns EOD 'Team of the Year 2009' title

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Carolyn Viss
  • 15th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii --  Two brothers sit, with their blouses off, in the back corner of a shop filled with explosives. Wires, fuses, and metal parts litter the table and even parts of the floor. Intent on their work, they hardly speak at all; but the expressions on their faces show a focus and concentration that says this is important work. They were building bombs, but not to drop.

They're two Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians, brothers by trade not by blood, and they regularly build improvised explosive devices to learn the ins and outs of IEDs and how they work. Downrange, this expert knowledge saves lives when they disarm roadside bombs, blow up unexploded ordnance, and enter booby-trapped buildings.

Geared up in an 80-pound bomb suit that restricts arm, leg, finger and neck movement, these young enlisted men and women get closer to the "dangerous stuff" than almost anyone else in the Air Force, and, for the first time, were named the Air Force Team of the Year for 2009.

"You look at Iraq and Afghanistan, and the No. 1 thing that's killing people is roadside bombs," said Staff Sgt. Ryan Bobzin, who has deployed three times and has a line number for technical sergeant after just seven years on active duty. "We're putting our lives on the line to go out there and disarm them before they kill people, and I think that's a big deal."

His last deployment to Afghanistan was "pretty busy," he said. His team responded to about four IEDs a week, and that was just one EOD unit. Overall in 2008, EOD Airmen in Iraq and Afghanistan cleared the most roadside bombs than any other service - 1,915, according to Air Force officials.

The EOD career field is a close-knit community, and with about 280 Airmen - a third of the population - deployed at any one time, training every single day for the inevitable worst-case scenarios is not just important - it's necessary. Saving lives, not taking lives, is the main mission of the team.

They train on thousands of weapons including bombs, missiles, IEDs, dispensers, and personal protection weapons including the M4, M9, M240, M249, M81 and M107, according to Maj. Eric Fajardo, 15th CES commander operation.

"We have to know how to get around in the bomb suit, work several different robots, and know the ins and outs of IEDs and UXOs and how they work," Sergeant Bobzin said. "We take situations we had while we were deployed and make them harder than real life." That way, when they get to the field they're prepared for anything.

Airman 1st Class Marc Rowand-Donohue, Hickam AFB's newest EOD apprentice, joined the Air Force just over a year ago and volunteered to work in this career field knowing it's inherently dangerous.

"I was a bank teller before I joined," the 26-year-old New Jersey native said. "I wanted to do something worthwhile, something important. I love the challenge."

But although it's fulfilling and worthwhile, being in such a dangerous career field often entails "freaky" experiences, like some of the memories Sergeant Bobzin brought back with him.

"Our vehicle in a convoy was hit," the 26-year-old New York native said. "We were doing post-blast clearing in the back of the vehicle, when suddenly we were being shot at with [rocket-propelled grenades]."

Thankfully, the attackers didn't stick around long, but the experience scared him, and "frankly, you'd have to be insane not to be scared," said the sergeant, who is almost finished with a bachelor's degree in justice administration and would seek a commission if he could do so but stay in the EOD career field.

"I just love what I'm doing too much to leave," he said. "Maybe that's because it's so dangerous. You get that thrill ... it's just you and the bomb when you're disarming it. And of course blowing stuff up is lots of fun."

The most satisfying thing about his job as a team leader was coming back from a call and knowing once again they did their job, did it safely, and everyone came home alive, he said. "You feel like you made a difference."