EOD takes time to reflect during Safety Day

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Candy Knight
  • 51st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  Members of the 51st Civil Engineer Squadron's Explosive Ordnance Disposal flight joined fellow EOD technicians across the Pacific Air Forces Oct. 24, as they stood down operations for Safety Day.

According to a memorandum sent by Maj. Gen. Mike Hostage, PACAF vice commander, the purpose of EOD Safety Day is to review how EOD does business -- from standard operating procedures, tactics, techniques and procedures, and the health of the EOD career field.

"Incidents where EOD operators were killed conducting counter-improvised explosive device operation across DoD reveal one constant: the need to get back to basics," the general said in the memorandum.

For Osan's EOD flight, the day gives them more time to reflect on its mission, teamwork and training for deployments.

"Safety is paramount, especially in our job," said Airman 1st Class Matthew Morris. "Our job is about saving lives, and the last thing you want to do is hurt or kill someone, especially when the person is a fellow Airman or teammate."

According to Tech. Sgt. Michael Yates, Safety Day gives the flight additional time to reflect on individual experiences and use those experiences to train new EOD Airmen.

"Unlike many career fields, every situation EOD encounters is different," he said. "There is no set technical order for disarming an IED because IEDs are only limited by the imagination and creativity of the creator."

Reinforcing the teamwork aspect is another goal of Safety Day.

"EOD is a true brotherhood -- a family," said Staff Sgt. Adam Putnam. "Every member is putting their life in danger, so every member needs to depend on their team. We may succeed or we may fail, but either way, we do it as a team."

Master Sgt. Hendrik Van De Pol, EOD flight chief, stated that he will use Safety Day, as well as regular mission days, to train his Airmen for global counter-IED missions.

"I don't want them to lose site of the global mission," he said. "My goal is to send well-prepared Airmen into a high-operations tempo environment and know they are able to perform their duties successfully."

Although focusing on training and safety procedures is one of the reasons behind Safety Day, pausing to remember fallen and wounded EOD brothers and sisters is another, more compassionate reason.

According to Sergeant Van De Pol, eight EOD members have been killed in action; another 33 have been wounded, since the current conflict began.

"We need to remember what happened, and Safety Day is a good opportunity to do that," he said. "It is easy to say Safety First, but it's hard to practice. Safety needs to be second nature for everyone, and I'm glad our leadership has put things into action to help the career field."

"One of the worst days in my EOD career is when I had to carry three friends back to the base, in caskets," Sergeant Yates said. "In this career field, every one knows bad things can happen -- we know there are risks, but it is important to take the time to look back and learn what you can from those situations. Hindsight is always 20/20, but it does no good if you don't take the time to learn from past experiences."

For EOD units from across PACAF, Safety Day allows them to take a moment to reflect, train, review critical mission essentials and reinforce their wingman bonds, because for these Airmen, and every servicemember, it is ...

"Initial Success or Total Failure."