FORT BENNING, Ga., (Nov. 27, 2013) -- The 789th Explosive Ordinance Disposal Company is small in number, but has the immense task of protecting innocent lives from improvised explosive devices. Because of their mission, company leaders said EOD technicians are trained to think like the enemy.
Through a series of field training exercises throughout Fort Benning, the 44-member unit is challenged to think outside of the box and deconstruct the mind and actions of a bomber.
Capt. Ryan Plemmons, company commander, said these technicians are placed in situations similar to an environment in Afghanistan, living in tents and being on call 24 hours a day.
"Our main mission is to be deployable at a moment's notice to go our theaters of operation over in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said. "Our mission over there is to render safe the improvised explosive devices that we come across. While we're here in the states, we have real-life homeland defense missions."
Those missions may include inspecting suspicious packages or supporting the president, secret service and foreign dignitaries.
"Since I took command in December 2012, we've had 175 real-life explosive incidents that we've responded to and we've supported 30 presidential missions, both stateside and overseas," Plemmons said.
Before Soldiers become technicians, they must pass eight months of training at the EOD school at Eglin Air Force Base in Destin, Fla., where they learn the basics in location, identification, render safe, recovery, technical evaluation, and disposal of conventional surface and underwater ordinance, both foreign and domestic.
Many new Soldiers leave the school and immediately begin operating in their units. Working with experienced technicians is the key to survival.
"They operate in three man teams, and the team leader has two team members with him. The team leader is most experienced, and most have been in combat as an EOD Soldier," Plemmons said.
"They mentor the younger guys. The platoon sergeants run the lanes and have had multiple deployments. They're the subject matter experts so they set up lanes to teach things that will come in handy later."
Company 1st Sgt. Shawn Prather said the responsibilities of an EOD technician are mentally painstaking on the battlefield. The job requires them to understand a variety of weapons, from small bullets to nuclear and chemical weapons and basic letter bombs.
"We need Soldiers who do not look at problems that they would see things in everyday life," he said. "It's a very dangerous job and because of that -- it's a volunteer field. It takes a certain kind of person to want to do that."
Prather said the number of EOD personnel has surged from 700 in 1996 to almost 2,200 since 9/11. Sgt. Jessica Mumford of Fredericksburg, Va. said the casualties of war in Iraq and Afghanistan motivated her decision to take on the job.
"I saw that the number one killer for Soldiers overseas was IEDs," she said. "I just want to be the best EOD tech I possibly can. I need to learn as much as I can prior to if we deploy so that I can make sure my Soldiers come home safe as possible."
Mumford said working together as small unit develops a tight bond between Soldiers on and off the battlefield.
"The decision making process is very intense, which is why we never work alone," she said.
"Your team members should know what you're thinking and what you want to do before you even do it, and that comes with practice. These field exercises are a great way to make us come together as a team."
Social Sharing