2021 Marine Corps Engineer Association Explosive Ordnance Disposal Officer of the Year

CAMP PENDLETON, CA, UNITED STATES

08.04.2021

Story by Lance Cpl. Aldo Sessarego 

1st Marine Logistics Group

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Charles D. Heyer, an officer with 1st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company, 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, has been selected as the Marine Corps Engineer Association 2021 Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Officer of the Year for his duties while serving as EOD Officer in charge (OIC) for Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Central Command (SPMAGTF-CR-CC) in support of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) covering the period of 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.
During this period, Heyer demonstrated exceptional professional expertise, seasoned leadership, and an acute awareness of many operational and training requirements; he provided invaluable advice to the company, battalion, and group commanders. Heyer masterfully orchestrated complex annual exercises and evaluation plans while displaying a tactical and technical expertise unrivaled by platoon commanders at higher echelons of command.
“I worked with other service components to provide an inerting/disassembly capability that only the Marine Corps currently offers,'' said Heyer. “They were able to utilize these skills to quickly drive the targeting cycle and gather weapons data. Without working in a joint community to solve these issues, the targeting process would have taken exponentially longer and enemy ordnance items would have to be shipped back to continental United States costing money and time.”
While in Kuwait, he was in charge of and managed the execution of 22 live fire demolition ranges. Throughout the conduct of these ranges, 92 items were disassembled and stripped of hazardous explosives to create training aids for deployment training. Other range operations included the destruction of 120,000 items of unserviceable ammunition and at the request of the competent medical authority, the destruction of 650 pieces of expired controlled narcotics.
“During these times, EOD would bring out ammunition technicians to assist in the destruction, and train them in emergency destruction procedures,” said Heyer. “EOD disassembled almost 100 items and gathered critical intel for the joint EOD publications and, when requested, weapon data on first-seen ordnance items.”

Heyer managed the disassembly and exploitation operations in support of CENTCOM and other U.S. government agencies, including the disassembly and intelligence gathering operations of fifteen foreign and improvised ordnance items. He also managed the distribution and submission of information used to inform the EOD community of potential future threats.
After analyzing historical, current, and future support requirements, Heyer developed a troop-to-task analysis to determine the correct manning for future SPMAGTF-CR-CC deployments. Working alongside I MEF, he was able to reduce the manning while ensuring contingency and ongoing operations are supported. These actions assisted the MEF in the rear with retaining critical capabilities that are available for worldwide deployments.
“I was focusing on ensuring there was adequate training, funding, and resources available to meet the unit's pre-deployment requirements,” said Heyer. “Ensuring yourself and those around you are trained to a common standard means the unit can be successful in all challenges they face.”

Heyer has proven invaluable to every mission and task he is given. His knowledge, planning and unparalleled work ethic has dramatically improved the operational safety, education, and bilateral interoperability of Marines, joint, and partner forces while deployed. Due to his exemplary technical and tactical proficiency, he was selected as the Marine Corps Engineer Association Explosive Ordnance Disposal Officer of the Year 2021.

• Date Taken: 08.04.2021
• Date Posted: 08.06.2021 11:46
• Story ID: 402464
• Location: CAMP PENDLETON, CA, US