EGLIN AFB IS THE HOME OF EXPLOSIVE ORDNANCES DISPOSAL TRAINING FOR ARMY, NAVY, AIR FORCE, AND MARINES

As I noted in previous emails, Eglin AFB is home for all services and military missions. This has become more apparent in the last few years. The story below illustrates this even more and the growth of this program is beyond the expectations. However, with the change in military tactics by our enemies, this will not go away anytime soon. Moral of this story. Eglin continues to attract all services of the military and their missions and the civilian contractors which follow them. PRIVATE SECTOR WE NEED YOUR HELP IN TAKING CARE OF THESE FOLKS AND EVERYTHING WHICH COMES WITH THEM.


Explosive ordnance disposal training on the increase at Eglin
Mona Moore
2010-01-13 22:38:52

EGLIN AFB — Lt. Cmdr. Mark McGuckin remembers when he went through explosive ordnance disposal training nine years ago.
“There were no suits and no robots,” said McGuckin, executive officer of the Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal at Eglin Air Force Base.
Suits and robots aren’t the only changes on the EOD campus. Since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom, demand for training has increased exponentially.
“We have 25 students start classes every three days,” McGuckin said.
The school will be at maximum capacity in fiscal 2010, with 1,786 students. That’s up from 1,705 students in 2009 and 1,283 in 2008. McGuckin said this year’s increase will be the last one until additional facilities are built.
The school trains all branches of the military and foreign military students. The number of students has doubled in the year since a new Army battalion was stood up at the school.
The increase has meant doubling the facilities as well. The school has added additional training sites and 13 temporary classrooms. More than $27 million was allocated to build barracks that will accommodate an additional 440 students.
Because funding has focused on war efforts, needs at the school have been met at a slower rate.
McGuckin finds that ironic. Since the United States’ involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, the need for experts in explosive ordnance disposal has increased.
“It’s amazing the strain we have on our facilities. We’re on the low end of the pecking order,” he said.
A 67,000-square-foot building will replace a row of portables added since the surge of students began. A 171,000-square-foot applied Weapons of Mass Destruction facility will be added in 2013 at a cost of $36.7 million.
Fencing and road projects are also in the works.