Photo By Sgt. Christopher Sarratori | Sgt. Walter Pablo, EOD Team Leader 741st OD Co (EOD), briefs a team member, Pfc....... read more read more
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The sun edged over the horizon while teams from the 741st Ordnance Company (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) were busy responding to calls of improvised explosive devices, unexploded ordnance, and chemical hazards. They had been awake since midnight, rudely awoken to put on their bomb suits and start the day. It would be another 20 hours before any of them got a chance to rest.
This wasn’t a deployment, and all threats were simulated. This was the beginning of the final event of the 741st’s Team of the Year Competition. The winning team’s prize? Bragging rights; and a chance to compete against other EOD teams from around the country.
The competition started on Oct. 9 with a modified fitness test, and included a live demolition range, a board appearance, ruck march, and 24 continuous hours of EOD response to a variety of incidents.
“We are testing their competency in their EOD perishable skill sets that they use in both CONUS and overseas work,” said 1st Sgt. Edward Swiger, first sergeant with the 741st OD Co. “We also included common skills testing to include basic Soldier tasks.”
Tested skills ranged from employing various EOD specific tools, operating in a chemical or radiological environment, IED response, weapons cache response, rendering safe various UXO, and identifying homemade explosives.
“This year is dedicated to Staff Sgt. Mark C. Wells,” said Swiger. “I think it’s important we honor and remember the lessons of our fallen. That’s how we started as an MOS and that’s how we continue to learn.”
This is the first year the competition honored an EOD technician who was killed in combat.
Staff Sgt. Wells died March 5th, 2011 of wounds sustained from an IED detonation while on a mission in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 45th Sustainment Brigade, 8th Theater Sustainment Command, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
The two-man EOD Teams competed around the clock, often going with little to no sleep.
“It was four days of exhaustion,” said this year’s Team of the Year team leader Sgt. Joshua Gump, 741st OD Co (EOD). “To win it feels awesome, all of the other competitors were very smart. We all worked really hard for this.”
Gump also said that the competition was a great way to test combat readiness under deployment conditions. He shares his victory with team member, Spc. Alexander Campbell.
By the end of the competition, all the teams came away feeling like they had learned something.
“At this competition, we have teams running with uncertified team leaders. This is an opportunity for them to see what it’s like to be in the hot seat. It’s not something they’d get a chance to do at any other level Team of the Year competition,” said Staff Sgt. David Wooldridge, 741st OD Co (EOD) team leader and observer controller.
| Date Taken: | 10.12.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 10.18.2018 17:35 |
| Story ID: | 296691 |
| Location: | EL PASO, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 296 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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