SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. - - The 20th Civil Engineer Squadron explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) flight hosted a team-building exercise for the University of South Carolina Sumter Fire Ants softball squad at Shaw, Jan. 23, 2026.
The exercise was designed to strengthen the team’s communication, resilience and camaraderie by having them undergo various small-group challenges and competitions involving EOD equipment and skills.
“The intent was to put the players into an unknown, new environment and stress them out a bit, forcing them to work on their intra-team communication before their season gets underway,” said Capt. Austin Richardson, 20 CES EOD flight commander.
With their coaches looking on, the 24 USC Sumter softball players split into groups that cycled through different stations that featured challenges such as a timed obstacle course that each group member had to complete while wearing a bomb suit.
Emma Gaulden, a freshman shortstop for USC Sumter, said the bomb suit obstacle course was the most challenging part of the exercise for her due to her and her team’s unfamiliarity with how to put the suit on each other, the suit’s weight of over 80 pounds, and the fact that she had to complete the obstacle course twice for her group.
“That was the hardest part of the day for me,” said Gaulden. “Honestly, I thought I might pass out (while wearing the suit), but my team kept pushing me through, getting me through the obstacles and didn’t let me quit.”
Other stations included performing reconnaissance of a munition, using a robot to drop a golf ball on top of a cone, employing tactical combat casualty care skills, and using ropes and a rope and pulley system to safely move a simulated explosive.
20 CES EOD technicians served as coaches and mentors at each of the stations, motivating them through adversity and imparting the communication and problem-solving techniques they use when operating in high-pressure environments.
“We wanted to…push them towards relying on each other and working together to complete each task handed to them” said Senior Airman Thomas Clark, 20 CES EOD technician.
Denaja Greene, a sophomore infielder for USC Sumter, said the motivation provided by the EOD technicians at each of the stations compelled her and the other players to approach each challenge as a competition to win.
“They really took the time to really teach us everything we needed to know (about the different stations) and really wanted us to succeed,” said Greene. “They got excited when they saw us trying our hardest and pushed all of us to challenge ourselves as much as we could, which was my favorite part of the whole day.”
The exercise also served as a way for the 20 CES EOD flight to immerse student-athletes in the local community into their mission, skills, equipment and purpose.
“For us it’s a chance to showcase what we do and offer up an experience most people don’t get to see,” said Richardson. “It never fails that putting on the bomb suit or driving a robot puts smiles on the faces of those at the event.”
Greene concurred. “Everyone (on the 20 CES EOD flight) was amazing,” she said. “It was just such a fun experience overall, I can’t say enough about how much fun I had.”
Fun was not the only result of the day for the Fire Ants. Gaulden believes that their experience with the 20 CES EOD flight will pay dividends during their upcoming 2026 campaign.
“We worked a lot better as a team today than we have yet to do so far in our preseason,” she said. “We are going to use what we built today as momentum to go and be successful throughout our season.”