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NORFOLK, Va. – Many Sailors experience physical and mental difficulties when forging a path for themselves in the Navy Special Operations community and the United States Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal program is no exception.
The program comprises of a four-week initial preparation course, nine weeks of diving school, and fifty-two weeks of rigorous EOD training.
According to Seaman Christian Hamilton, a Deck Department sailor assigned to the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5), who attempted the Navy EOD program, this reality could not have been more authentic.
“When I was 28, I went down to South America, right in the heart of the Amazon, near a little town called Iquitos, helping people for a year,” Hamilton said.
“During that time, I did isolation work, ate bland and clean foods and read books by Jocko Willink and David Goggins.”
“The stories they portrayed of being in a society of people who have your back and would die for you and you for them appealed to me.”
“I never knew what I wanted to do when I was younger. Growing up, I was rebellious and slightly aloof, but I loved pushing myself, especially physically. I loved working out, and I loved seeing how far I could take myself.”
“Being someone who always loved pushing themselves this way of life seemed like something I wanted to do. I looked at all the special programs like Navy SEAL, Navy Diver, Explosive Ordnance Disposal, and Air Rescue,” said Hamilton.
Eventually deciding on EOD, Hamilton enlisted in the U.S. Navy at the age of 32 and wanted to pursue a naval career with ties to the U.S. Naval Special Operations community.
“As an EOD, you get to work with Special Operations, like Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman, the SEALs, Divers, and Air Rescue, and you get to disarm explosives,” Hamilton said.
With his mindset on completing the challenges ahead of him, he started training daily to ensure his readiness for EOD school.
For nine months, Hamilton trained his combat sidestroke, a swimming technique, and worked to pass his Physical Screening Test (PST) with a local Delayed Entry Program before he knew he was ready to begin his chosen path.
“I crushed my official PST and landed the EOD package,” said Hamilton.
After attending boot camp at the Recruit Training Command, Hamilton was recognized for his efforts, receiving the Recruit Ribbon and an award from the Captain of Recruit Training Command.
“My parents came to the United States for my graduation and met the captain; they enjoyed that.”
However, for Hamilton, this was just the next step in a line of necessary markers to check off to start the career he longed for.
“I found EOD Prep School to be a lot of fun. What surprised me the most was the fact that many of those who were in the EOD program with me didn’t make it past the initial preparation,” Hamilton said. “It shocked me a little bit, and I realized then that I had to focus on what I was doing. Just do one step at a time, and I’ll get where I need to.”
Hamilton eventually made it through Dive School, which he felt was the most challenging.
“Towards the end of my EOD training, I had to take time from school to help my mother,” Hamilton said. “I discovered that my mother was diagnosed with a debilitating disorder, Gullian-Barre syndrome.”
“I had a lot of personal things surface during this time. I took an ancestry DNA test, and I found my biological mother.”
“I was so close to graduating, but I missed so much training time that I eventually was dropped from the program.”
Hamilton was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to a 16-year-old mother on March 23rd, 1987. Three days later he was adopted by a family from Australia.
“I didn’t know anything about my biological family. I met them, and it was a very intense situation. It was a lot to deal with.”
Hamilton found his biological family, but amid the chaos, he became a Sailor without a rate. With his future looming, Hamilton received orders to the USS Bataan.
“Ship life was very different, coming from a community where I’d gone through basically two initiation processes at prep and dive school, knowing I can do it and getting through as much of EOD as I did and having that stripped away, to now being an undesignated seaman was heartbreaking.”
“I felt like a failure, I felt like I let my parents down,” said Hamilton.
“The first couple of months were difficult, and the main thing that got me through was a friend told me, ‘Being on a ship is a selection process. If you can get through it, keep your head on your shoulders and not lose yourself, and you still want to do a special program after, there is no way that you will fail.’”
Hamilton figured out his best course of action and convinced his chain of command to let him attend Search and Rescue school to become a Surface Rescue Swimmer.
Achieving command collaterals, he felt, would not only help him achieve his new dream of becoming a U.S. Navy Diver but also allow him to be more valuable to the USS Bataan.
“Realizing I wanted to succeed, I looked at all the things I could do to make myself necessary and stand out,” said Hamilton.
In February 2023, he attended the SAR four-week course in Jacksonville, Florida, which involved swimming, constant physical training, military education, and teamwork.
“The training was tough,” Hamilton said. “During the workouts, a small part of me was saying, this really sucks, but a much more significant part was so grateful for the opportunity, and I relished in every moment of pain. I wanted to prove that I could do something else.”
Now one of the four qualified SAR swimmers aboard the USS Bataan, Hamilton hopes this is a way for him to become an integral part of the Navy Special Operations community, like Navy Diver.
“I think being a certified Surface Rescue Swimmer shows that I still have aspirations after everything that has happened,” Hamilton said.
“I’m determined to become a Navy Diver and I can also contribute more to the ship. It makes me proud.”
| Date Taken: | 03.27.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 06.25.2023 22:52 |
| Story ID: | 447321 |
| Location: | NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 76 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
This work, Sailor Dives Deep to Capture A Dream, by PO2 Christopher Jones, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
