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PANAMA CITY, Florida – Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Officers and Enlisted from various Naval Support Activity Panama City area commands collaborated with Naval Service Training Command (NSTC) to welcome future EOD candidates Sept. 28-Oct.1, 2017.
The 2nd Annual EOD “Exceptional Exposure” weekend kicked off Sept. 28, 2017 and included three days of training aboard Naval Support Activity Panama City. The goal of the weekend was to provide Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) midshipmen exposure to the EOD/Diving community to set proper expectations and to inspire them towards intelligent preparation for service assignment. As the Home of Military Diving, Panama City was chosen as the venue for this year’s event.
The U.S. Navy’s EOD Officer Community Manager Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Lavery, attended the event and discussed officer selections with the midshipmen.
“The EOD officer community represents less than 2 percent of the U. S. Navy officer corps and is heavily relied upon to support operations around the globe. As the smallest unrestricted line officer community, we want to provide midshipmen with the opportunity to learn about what missions our community is engaged in now and the capabilities we are able to provide the fleet,” said Lavery. “Our goal of the EOD Exceptional Exposure event is to spark interest and mentor midshipmen interested in the program so that we continue to attract the best candidates for selection.”
Thirty-three students from 21 different universities participated in this year’s event. The three-day training included physical training, swim stroke clinic, classroom instruction and briefs, leadership discussions, hands-on demonstrations, and various interactions with active duty EOD officers and enlisted personnel.
“This past weekend proved to be an invaluable experience in which I was able to interact with and learn from some of the highest-caliber military personnel as well as visit the most high-tech training and testing facilities in the world,” said Midshipman Tucker Coffman, from Liberty Township, Ohio, a sophomore at Ohio State University. Much like many of the midshipmen who attended the weekend, Coffman wants to be an EOD officer.
The event was planned and coordinated by three active duty EOD officers who serve as Naval Science Instructors (NSI) at NROTC units across the country. Lt. Abe Kim, from the University of Colorado-Boulder served as the EOD Weekend Officer in Charge and was assisted by Lt. Jason Cocca, from Auburn University, and Lt. Jon Dobbins from Texas A&M. All three officers are NSIs at their respective universities.
“The purpose of the EOD "Exceptional Exposure" weekend was to set appropriate expectations for NROTC midshipmen in regard to the EOD community. Many of them do not have access to EOD resources at their universities so this event provided an in-depth forum to understand beyond what one would get off a recruitment pamphlet or website,” said Kim. “Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center (NDSTC) was the perfect platform that offered access to EOD Instructors and their wealth of knowledge, Navy diving training areas and equipment, and an EOD shore detachment which could fully showcase the many capabilities of a Navy EOD team. We intend to hold this training again in the future and hope midshipmen continue to take advantage of this opportunity to learn about this highly specialized warfare community.”
University of Arizona sophomore Midshipman Emilio Mackie agreed that NDSTC was a great place to host the event.
“The short time I spent at the NDSTC taught me more than just information about Navy Diving and the Explosive Ordnance Disposal. I felt that I found a sense of purpose in Panama City, and will use this new found drive to push myself to not only be a better student, but also a better officer in the fleet,” said Mackie.
United States Naval Academy midshipmen are afforded numerous opportunities to get in-depth exposure to all the officer communities throughout their four years at the academy. Although NROTC midshipmen are also provided exposure to the different officer communities, historically their experience with lesser known communities such as EOD and diving has been intermittent. This event was held to bridge the gap between the two commissioning sources.
EOD Officer Cmdr. Sam Brasfield who is assigned to Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division hopes EOD Exposure Weekends will entice midshipmen to consider EOD as a career of choice.
“There is a lot of the talent that exists at the NROTC units and we hope to inspire them to join our ranks or at least have the knowledge to make an informed decision,” said Brasfield.
Midshipman Nathaniel Wang, from Manassas, Virginia, a sophomore from the University of Colorado helped me find new leadership traits within.
“EOD Weekend was an extremely beneficial experience as it was motivating, challenging, and showed me leadership qualities about myself that I never had thought about before and areas I need to improve,” said Wang.
Supporting commands aboard NSA Panama City included Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal, NDSTC, Navy Experimental Diving Unit, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 6 Detachment Panama City and U.S. Navy Bureau of Personnel.
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| Date Taken: | 10.06.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 10.06.2017 16:51 |
| Story ID: | 250896 |
| Location: | FL, US |
| Web Views: | 648 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Panama City Hosts Future EOD Officers, Continues Academic Partnerships, by Jacqui Barker, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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