WHEELING, W.Va. – Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians supported U.S. Army recruiters during a middle and high school robotics competition in Wheeling, West Virginia.
Soldiers from the 754th Ordnance Company (EOD) demonstrated the tools of their profession to students at the Wheeling Robotics Competition.
Staff Sgt. Andrew Gettle from Lebanon, Pennsylvania; Pfc. Calvin Battaglia from West Chester, Pennsylvania; and Pfc. Hayden Rolf from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, represented the 754th EOD Company at the event in support of the Richmond Army Recruiting Battalion.
“There were around 140 teams that competed and around 5-6 members in each team,” said Gettle. “The competitors were middle school and high school aged kids from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) schools from all over the region.”
Gettle said the students came from 36 high schools and 60 middle schools.
“The competition had each team that built their own robot and then competed in presentation, skills and a battle that consisted of them scoring balls into their goal and getting extra points for skills demonstrated during the match,” said Gettle, who has deployed to Afghanistan twice during his 10 years in the U.S. Army.
Soldiers from the U.S. Army’s Reserve’s 463rd Engineer Battalion helped to judge the robotics competition, which determined competitors for the robotics national competition finals in Dallas.
The 754th EOD Company is part of the 192nd EOD Battalion, 52nd EOD Group and 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives (CBRNE) Command, the U.S. Department of Defense’s premier CBRNE command.
American Soldiers and Army civilians from the 20th CBRNE Command deploy from 19 bases in 16 states to take on the world’s most dangerous hazards in support of joint, interagency and multinational operations.
Across the nation, the 20th CBRNE Command is supporting the Army recruiting effort with everything from EOD techs in bomb suits at recruiting events to Soldiers referring potential recruits in the communities where they live.
The 754th EOD Company previously served downrange in support of the Special Operations Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve in Syria from December 2018 to September 2019 and deployed to Tunisia for Exercise African Lion in 2022.
The Fort Drum, New York-based EOD company also responds to military munitions discovered on and off post in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
As the U.S. Army’s explosive experts, EOD technicians take on everything from hand grenades to nuclear weapons.
EOD techs use robots to identify, confront and defeat explosives designed to harm people and hinder operations.
Along with other EOD tools, the 756th EOD Company team members brought the Man Transportable Robot System 2 (MTRS II) and the Common Robotics System-Individual (CRS-I) robots to the robotics competition.
Gettle said many of the students wanted to know more about their robots and their high stakes profession in the U.S. Army.
“They liked the use of training aids and being able to operate the robots we brought to the event,” said Gettle. “It was great to see their passion for STEM and to be able to share some of the opportunities we’ve had to work with unique capabilities like robots through the military.”
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