Military Officer - July 2006 - (Page 57) generally one of the more difficult schools in the military,” confirms Command Sgt. Maj. James H. Clifford of the 52nd Ordnance Group (EOD) at Fort Gillem, Ga. “Currently, we run about a 25-percent attrition rate.” Although explosive ordnance has been a part of warfare for hundreds of years, it wasn’t until World War II that the U.S. military began training technicians specifically to disarm and dispose of explosive devices, notes Clifford. The impetus for such training was the Battle of Britain in 1940, during which many British civilians were killed or wounded by German delayed-fuse bombs. The first British bomb techs were volunteer engineers, many of whom were killed or wounded trying to defuse enemy ordnance. Realizing the need for skilled specialists, the British began formal bomb disposal training in September 1941. Four months later, the U.S. military formed the Bomb Disposal School at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., under Lt. Col. Thomas Kane, USA, who is considered the father of U.S. EOD. Kane, another officer, and two enlisted soldiers immediately went to England to learn the art of bomb disposal from the British. At the same time, the English army sent a team led by Col. Jeffrey Yates to Aberdeen to begin instructing U.S. soldiers. “EOD started out as small bombdisposal squads and has evolved into companies that still are not much bigger than they were in World War II,” notes Clifford. “We remain small, close-knit organizations with a specialized mission.” Today, there are a combined 4,000 EOD specialists in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. However, DoD has initiated a program to dramatically increase that number because of the growing need for trained bomb techs at home and abroad. Unlike most mili- tary personnel, who see action only during wartime, EOD specialists have peacetime and wartime missions. “The EOD soldier supports the ongoing missions in Iraq and Af- Lt. Col. Thomas Kane, USA, began instructing bomb disposal in the 1940s. He is known as the father of EOD. ghanistan by getting rid of hazardous items that threaten the military, coalition force, and civilian populations in those areas,” says Clifford. They do this in a variety of ways, adds Sgt. 1st Class John Gray, an EOD team leader with the U.S. Army 704th Ordnance Company (EOD) at Camp Shelby, Miss., who has been deployed to Iraq twice. One is by cleaning up Soldiers prepare to detonate an array of bombs. Ordnance is generally placed within trenches like this one, which makes for a more controlled detonation (above, top). An Air Force captain (above) secures an improvised explosive device (IED) that was found roadside during a routine search in an Iraqi village earlier this year. J U LY 2 0 0 6 PHOTOS: TOP TO BOTTOM, U.S. ARMY ORDNANCE MUSEUM; DOD; ARMY STAFF SGT. KEVIN L. MOSES SR./USAF MILITARY OFFICER 59
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