What’s your day? Everyone’s got one it seems, and this is one of mine. The first Saturday in May is designated as National EOD Day.

Think less “reckless Hurt Locker” and more of the selfless men and women who put their lives on the line day in and day out by: detecting, locating, identifying, diagnosing, rendering safe, exploiting, and disposing of all explosive ordnance, improvised explosive devices, improvised/homemade explosives, and weapons of mass destruction.

Learn about the EOD Warrior Foundation who serves the EOD community by providing financial assistance and support to Active-Duty, Reserve and National Guard, Retired and Veteran EOD technicians and their families with financial assistance and additional services such as morale events, peer-to-peer support, educational programs, connections to resources, care of the EOD Memorial, and sustained contact with our EOD warriors and their families.

Check out After the Long Walk who is a group of active duty and EOD veterans, PSBT Officers, and family members that have come together for one purpose, to help each other. Their goals are to help educate each other (EOD Techs) on services available to combat PTSD, encourage each other, and ultimately prevent suicide. Their methods to reach their goals include peer to peer mentorship, challenging activities and always being there for each other 24/7.

The above iconic photo is seen in many EOD shops. Many of us know the myriad of things passing through the mind as you make that “long walk” to take care of something deadly. Mostly it’s all operational and nothing to do with fear.

There are a few phrases that sum up EOD well. The first is the motto that is boldly written everywhere at the school house.

“Initial Success or Total Failure.”

I much prefer this one:

EOD is the science of vague assumptions based on debatable data taken from inconclusive experiments with instruments of problematic accuracy by persons of questionable mentality.

If you don’t know much about the job, do a web browser search and read up. IEDs were the leading cause of death and injury in the Global War on Terror and EOD Techs were the frontline forces dealing with that threat.

It was my honor to serve along side some of the smartest people I’ve ever met. They chose to wear the uniform because they wanted to serve something higher than themselves. They chose EOD for many reasons, each their own. They served in that capacity not because “it was their only option” or “they were too stupid to go to college.”

I challenge the average college student to read circuitry on an X-ray, make a plan, and take decisive action without getting themselves or anyone else killed.

Thanks for reading Mental Grenade and have an excellent EOD Day!

These Veteran stories of struggle, adventure, and post traumatic growth need to be heard!
Join the cause to de-stigmatize mental health issues.
Please SUBSCRIBE, share our website with friends / co-workers, and support us by donation or at the STORE.