EOD ribbon cutting ends with a bang

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Adawn Kelsey
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  The 366th Training Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal ribbon cutting was explosive to say the least at the EOD Range complex May 27. The EOD preliminary course was moved from Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, to Sheppard and will begin classes May 31.
Col. Kenneth Backes, 782nd Training Group commander, said it was a privilege to have the opportunity to train the EOD front line warriors.

"I will say up front that not everyone can be an EOD warrior-- it takes determination, intelligence, and ability to think outside the box, team work and stamina," Colonel Backes said. "They must have the ability to handle live explosives hence we put our candidates through this range activity as part of their training."

The Colonel said that the course is not meant to train the students but to assess their capability to be successful later.

"By sending the right students better prepared we will be saving tax payer dollars both in training time and training costs," he said.

Master Sgt. Vincent Pagano, 366th TRS EOD flight chief, said the senior leaders in the Air Force's EOD program came up with the idea to extend the program. The six-day course at Lackland AFB, Texas, was not enough to detect which Airmen were mentally and physically fit enough to graduate the primary school.

"During the 20 day preliminary course for explosive ordinance disposal we will take Airmen who are new to the career field and put them through a rigorous course that will test them physically and mentally," he said. "While they are here they will be learning some of the skills associated with the EOD career field to physically endure some of the tasks that they may have to endure in a war zone. Ultimately we want to provide the best trained individuals to attend the Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal at Eglin (Air Force Base, Fla.)."

Sergeant Pagano said part of the course will help familiarize the students with some of the tools such as robots and the explosives.

"The purpose of putting them in this type of environment is to find out how each individual is going to react," he said. "They will come out here and set up the explosives themselves and that's where we will be able to tell whether or not they are going to mentally be able do this job."

The course also features a special kind of robot that students will use that they may end up using again down range.

"The robots act in lieu of a person so rather than myself, as an EOD team leader, going down range, we can robotically manipulate a device," Sergeant Pagano said. "The robot is controlled by an operator and has three different cameras and all of the articulation and manipulation to open and or remove the threat from the area."

Sergeant Pagano said the Air Force is given a limited number of seats at the naval school which is why it is so important to detect whether or not an individual is going to be able to physically and mentally handle the course.

"The Air Force is only given 270 seats per year regardless if the student graduates or fails the class," he said. "Every time an Airman is eliminated from the EOD course here at Sheppard it will be easier to re-class them into a different career field. It will also save the Air Force money that would have been spent on sending an Airman to Eglin."

Sergeant Pagano said the initial class May 31 will have 10 individuals and there will be 22 per class thereafter. As each class graduates a new class will begin training and when the course reaches full production it will hold multiple classes simultaneously.