Osan EOD Airmen stand down for safety

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Terri Barriere
  • 51st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  Members of the 51st Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal Flight here recently took a time-out for safety during their annual Air Force Safety Day Nov. 13.

Safety Day allows EOD Airmen, whose day-to-day job can be anything from disarming improvised explosive devices to clearing unexploded ordnances, time to focus on the tools needed to keep them safe while completing their mission.

"For the last year or two the Air Force has directed Safety Day in order for us [EOD Airmen] to take a full day away from operations and concentrate on safety," Master Sgt. Edward Moats, noncommissioned officer in charge of the EOD flight said. "This is a chance for us to step back to the basics and really take a good look at the standard operating procedures in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as review current safety practices."

Throughout the day, EOD Airmen received informative briefings from various helping agencies on base, such as the chapel and mental health staff, in addition to holding round-table group discussions and team-building exercises.

Sergeant Moats said the importance of Safety Day is twofold. The first is to review what's going on in the combat zone, and the second is to ensure that deployed Airmen are working in the most secure environment they can.

"This is a chance to step back, look at the trends and try to learn from them, so when we go forward to operate we are working as safely as possible," he said.

EOD Airmen are deployed, on average, a minimum of six months out of every 18.
According to Sergeant Moats they receive many deployment briefings, but they aren't usually tailored to meet any particular audience. On Safety Day, EOD Airmen received specific briefings tailored to their needs based on information received from the field.

This year, the flight was briefed on balancing faith, family and the mission, post traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, how to accurately document medical records and making healthy recoveries.

"There are guys who deploy and see stuff the rest of the Air Force doesn't see," Sergeant Moats said. "On these kinds of days it helps to be able to get together and talk about that stuff with people who may have experienced something similar. A lot of these guys deploy and when they get back home they want to focus on their family and getting life back to normal and they won't take time to seek out information, but this gives them a chance to get that information."

For EOD Airmen who haven't deployed yet, Safety Day helps them prepare for things to come.

"For me, it [Safety Day] covers a lot of stuff I'm going to see when I'm deployed," Airman 1st Class Nikolas Kenna, EOD journeyman, said. "All the storyboards that are shown from the area of responsibility help me gather information before I deploy."

With only two years in the Air Force under his belt and no deployments, Airman Kenna said he's learning as much as possible from other people's experiences and appreciates having a day focused solely on safety while in a deployed environment.

On the other hand, for EOD Airmen with experience in the AOR, Safety Day is a nice reminder to avoid complacency while at home station.

"We really have two different jobs. At home station we support aircraft and while we're deployed it's defeating IEDs so it's nice to have a day at home station to focus on what we're going to be doing while deployed," said Senior Airman Nicholas Esch, also an EOD journeyman stationed here.

And although Airman Esch said he really enjoyed having the personalized EOD briefings during Safety Day, he felt the day was really a good opportunity for those who'd never deployed before.

"The biggest thing for them is to be able to see what's going on down range and be able to talk to guys who have deployed before," he said. "It's good for them to get a little bit of experience and kind of get their feet wet before going forward. It's a nice opportunity and I think it will help a lot in the long run."