EOD

Question for anyone:  EOD graduation is approaching soon.  Does anyone know particulars about what to expect?  Time off to visit with family....is it an official ceremony...gifts, etc.,any info would be greatly appreciated!  Thanks and prayers  going out for all.

Hi everyone! My SO is just at the beginning of his EOD journey (currently in the dive school phase). He is doing very well and seems to be enjoying everything he is learning so far. I have done a ton of research on the internet about EOD (I like to be as informed as possible) :) I know a lot of things have changed over the years and a lot of information I find about deployments is from years ago. How often are they usually deployed and how long are deployments? 

Prayers to MU 3 and their families beginning their long deployment.  ♥♥♥♥♥♥

MU 3 is out of Coronado/San Diego.

Question. My son will be leaving to train as EOD after bootcamp. Can anyone tell me what their days will be like once they start A school? Like how many hours a day they are in school, if they have to earn time off, if they have weekends "free". I cant find this info on the sites I have googled. Thanks in advance for any info!!

Hi Buttercup,  They have the weekends, off unless they have watch, or someone gets into trouble than they all pay for it. The training is grueling so they are getting ready on the weekends for the next work week.  Prep dive is crucial that they stay focused   (all of it actually is) but if they don't pass this they don't move on to Panama City.  At GL dive prep long days and every night they are getting ready for next day so not much time there in the evenings they are exhausted. He did get a few Saturdays I remember him calling me and telling me he was having the best breakfast lol. Once in Panama City the for the first 2 mo they have little time but it gets better. When they get done depends on their instructors everyday. w Every weekend he is getting everything ready for the next week ahead. We get to talk & face time as much as he can.I pretty much leave that to him to contact me so I am not interrupting him.( That might be a conditioning thing for me lol as I know that when he is deployed I might not hear from him.  If I don't hear from him I text him after 7 pm shoot him some love and encouragement. I hope that helps. Many Blessings to you and your sailor.

Blessings Dolphin

Buttercup, the previous 2 comments regarding EOD are exactly correct.  Crazy wild ride but wonderfully proud!  Training is grueling and lots of time spent studying.  A lot of students "roll-back" once or so after facing difficult exams.  Last we heard, you get a second chance to pass, but then roll back to the next class if the test is not passed.  My sailor spent his off weekends studying, sleeping and eating.  I believe it paid off.  It is wonderful when they have time to talk for a minute or you can get away to go for a brief visit.  And it is all ABSOLUTELY worth it when you finally get to attend graduation!  Send me comments or emails anytime.  Always glad to spread an encouraging word.  Best of luck and many blessings!

Thank you everyone for the responses :) It helps to know what kind of days will be expected. We want to be as informed and as encouraging as we possibly can!!

I want to make you all aware of the EOD Memorial service which is held the first Saturday in May every year.  I live fairly close by, so I was able to make it the year my son graduated.  I was nervous about attending, because I was afraid it would be too emotionally difficult to bear, but I am so glad I did. It was such a beautiful and moving service. If there is any chance you can go -- especially this year -- please make every effort to do so.  You will not be sorry.  My son won't be able to get home for the service this year, but my husband and I will be there to stand in for him and to pay our respects.

No they usually don't have leave between dive prep and diver training. My graduated 5 years ago from EOD school, things may have changed a bit but this how it was for him. After boot camp, he move across the street for dive prep for 3 weeks. Then they go to Panama City for 9 weeks of diver training, then 42 weeks for EOD training, then 3 weeks parachute training at Fort Benning GA, then 3 weeks EOD tactical training in San Diego. They may be put on hold if there's not enough people to start a class between sections. they usually only train on week days and and most weekends off, unless they have to stand watch. They do have stand down during schooling for the holidays. Hope this helps.

Is anyone active on this group? 

RubberDucky, I check in once in awhile but not a lot about our EOD guys.

Why no activity here. I would love to get some interaction here. My son just failed out of BUD/S. He did not DOR. He failed out. He has chosen EOD and I have spent the last two years of my life reading, watching and absorbing everything SEAL. Now I need to re-focus my efforts because I want to be able to follow his path, support him and know WTF he is talking about every step of the way. xo, Ducky

Hi. I'm not "active" on the site anymore but I got a notification of a posting from this group. My son is going into his 4th year in the Navy. He's an EOD - based in SAN, currently overseas and heading to Rota in the summer. I'd be happy to answer any questions if I can. Best of luck to your son.

IceteamMom and Karenlee, Thank you for your responses. Would it be okay for me to send you friend requests so I can PM you directly? Thank you both! Looking forward to this new path.... 

Hi!  I'm not "active" on the site very much anymore either, but also saw some recent activity. My son is also EOD and has been through the all the training mentioned by Karenlee. It is a wonderful mix of being proud and fearful at the same time.  He loves what he is doing and feels like this is what he was meant to do.  Good luck in your journey and I will try to check in more often.  I enjoy the conversations as well.

Thanks RubberDucky for waking us up! I don't log on here as much as I did when I was a newbie EOD Mom. I get an email notification when someone comments.
After following my son through the EOD pipeline the last 4 years I have more confidence in my son & his teachers/trainers. More confidence for him  = less anxiety for me. When he was home for a visit he sat me down & showed me some of what he's learned. The terms & technology that rolled off his tongue, like second language, astounded me & impressed me so much that I saw first hand that "HE'S GOT THIS!"  They start them out slow & build up to "THE GOOD STUFF". He's been deployed over seas 4 times in the past 2 yrs. He's seen some AMAZING places! The deployment he's on now has been the best one yet, according to him. If he's happy, I'm happy.

well, ok all, if we are going to wake up, here is what I ask... 
let me preface by saying I do believe the US Navy is a great institution.

What I cannot get past is the alcohol. I know the policies and I know they want to help their members but I hear a lot of stories of people who tried to get help and then despite reported confidentiality were stripped of their jobs when they asked for help.

I sat at a lovely graduation from EOD school and heard a respected navy man speak about his job and he actually spoke about being in a bar with other Navy men and getting into trouble.  It seems as though no one is driving after drinking they look the other way.

Does anyone else notice this?  

Hi Eagle--

Alcohol is a problem in all branches and particularly among the younger members. My son-in-law has been stationed in South Korea for two years and as an NCO has had to deal with young servicemen getting into trouble both on base and especially off base. That gets complicated when criminal charges and SOFA come into play.

For example, one Christmas Night he was awakened at one am to retrieve three of his guys from a Korean jail. The drinking age in Korea is 18 and one of the three was only 18. He thought he'd take advantage of the age limit and along with two others ended up trashing a local fast food restaurant, leaping on top of the counter to sing and dance, and resisted arrest when the Korean police were called. All of this is on video from the restaurant's security cameras. My son-in-law says that was the most aggravating event due to the Korean criminal factor but he's had to deal with it many times. In his opinion it's a result of young men (typically men but women too) away from home with a little money to blow and failure to anticipate consequences. Two of the three in the Christmas event faced court martial and were kicked out of the Army. Because the incident was the first on the third young man's record, he was busted rank and has a permanent black mark in his file.

As for the Navy specifically, my son recently turned 21 and faced a lot of pressure to go out and get drunk (not the term used ;-) ) more than once. Because my son has never buckled under social pressure he refused each time and has decided to wait to have his first drink with his dad when he comes home on leave. But my boy isn't the norm. Most young men and women would either be anxious to go out or would go along with the pressure.

When security clearances are added to this mix, I can see some logic to removing someone from a rating when alcohol addiction is a problem. Especially NSW, where complete focus and highly trained problem solving is absolutely necessary for the safety of the entire team. Hopefully it's a temporary removal and upon successful completion of rehab that person would be able to return to the original rating but I can also see why the powers that be would think that allowing anyone with an addiction, rehab or not, on an NSW team is asking for trouble given the stress our kids endure.

I've noticed the difference between NSW and regular military with regards to alcohol use. I know the teams are very close and I can see a team blowing off steam in a bar or something, but any addiction would be handled differently. In the Army case I mentioned above, the one man allowed to stay in service was watched closely for a long time to make sure there was no addiction, including random urinalyses. If there had been, my son-in-law said he'd have been sent back to the States and dealt with there. I've never heard of a case of a NSW and alcoholism but I imagine it's taken far more seriously simply because of the ratings and the risks they take.

Not to say that casual alcohol use isn't common because it is, again most common in younger members but by no means restricted to the young. In Korea many a married serviceman has gotten drunk, awakened with a hooker and ended up with unpleasant consequences both medical and marital. A common joke in 8th Army is that Korea is the fastest way to end up divorced.

My father had a high-level security clearance for his civilian job and his clearance reviews always included alcohol and drug testing to make sure it wasn't an issue. If it had been, the clearance would've been pulled and my dad would've lost his job. I imagine the same applies to NSW clearances.

All of the branches have tried to limit alcohol use for years with marginal success. They keep trying though.

Hi Ducky!

I have to say I was a moderator for a group of SEAL candidates. My son PIR'd on April 6, 2018. Having fallen off the SEAL path I still see so much value for us moms to keep in touch, especially those of us who are new and can learn from the more seasoned moms. So excited to have my son on a new path...Nervous but proud....

My son wanted the SO rating until he started working with the mentors. He didn't know much at all about EOD until then. Ii thought the fear of bullets and such was bad when he was all about SO. Then he comes home and tells me, "Mom, I want to go EOD." That's when I realized there was something worse than bullets: bombs! ;-)

His dad and I support him 100% but the fear factor is high for us.

Thanks for starting up! Maybe a thread rather than the comment wall would be easier? Just an idea.

Good morning EOD moms, I was wondering if you know about EOD family page? If you go on to Jeff Diffy he can get you on the page it is private page and very secure. 

Blessings

Stephanie

Thanks Stephanie, 

I had asked about a facebook page but was told there wasn't one. Going to pursue with Jeff.

Excited to be meeting some sisters here! Thank you!

For those of you who have been in this longer, I was wondering, how much time do they actually spend on the ship?  Do they spend more time stationed somewhere as opposed to some of the other rates?  My son is still in training.  

And I would be happy to get a PM thread going for anyone who would like to join. Send me a friend request. I will include all. As I said, I am at the very beginning of this long journey and appreciated the support!

Sarah, Very good and thoughtful response and I do agree the freedom and money can all add to it. 

I think its very sad to see, when my son was in training, I think it was  just prior to dive school, two guys showed up for a morning drill at the beach, still drunk from the night before.  They were promptly sent home.  

Kitabear, my son has deployed and has not been on a ship.  His team flew out from the US, landed a day or two mid way and then continued to final destination.  When it was time to come home, they sent them a few at a time,  Fathers and married came home first, singles last.  He was deployed for 6 mos. 

Thanks Eagle, That's good to know. My son would like to avoid the ships. Yeah, I know, why did he join the Navy? LOL

Thanks Eagle, my son would much rather be on land than at sea and it seems to me that EOD would be needed more on land so I was just curious how it went.  

Hello all ... It has been a while. 

Hello DJsmom! Thanks for joining us! :)

My son ALSO does not want to be on a ship! After DOR in Buds he didn't have a Plan B. So when they gave him job offers he only had a few hours to decide. Made the wrong choice & ended assigned to a ship for 1 yr. at the age of 28... ugh. But the good news is that it taught him the Navy ways...painting, sweeping, grunt work. He earned the Surface Warfare medal & made a good name & reputation for himself. His chief had him training & teaching the younger guys. By the time he got to his first EOD training some of the officers were already waiting to meet him. 

5 ys. later he's now an EOD Second Class Petty Officer. Loves it. A lot of his missions so far are diving & checking under ships in ports. He's had a few land missions but those only lasted  a few days. 

About 70 % of the deployments he's been on ~ he's stayed either on a base or in hotels. He stayed in a 5 star hotel for 6 mos. in Dubai! Poor guy  :)   :)

Thanks NavyMom for the encouragement!  I'm so happy for him that things worked out.  It seems a lot of them don't end up where they start but its great to hear a happy ending.  

Yes NavyM♥m! It is so great to hear the "life after BUD/S" success stories. It takes awhile for the sting to wear off, but it does....

Mine didn't DOR but the story is still similar. After months of training before BC and months of training during BUD/S he was sat in a room for an hour with a sheet of paper with rates on it. Talk about stress! 

Excited to be here to follow his path. 

Hi Eagle!

I think its very sad to see, when my son was in training, I think it was just prior to dive school, two guys showed up for a morning drill at the beach, still drunk from the night before. They were promptly sent home.

That is awful and I'm sure those young men rue that very bad decision, and will for the rest of their lives. So often young men make life altering decisions without realizing or considering the consequences.

Unfortunately no one can stop them from making those decisions while impaired, or even before.

My son reminds me that these kids, and they are kids at 19 and 20 act like they are in college--first time away from mom and dad, lack of supervision, etc. Mine is 28, light years away from these young men. It's so hard for these young ones to be training with those who are 24, 25, 28 and have had those crazy years and are now ready to settle down. 

Mine hated boot camp for that reason.  He has one friend that he went through DEPS with that just turned 21 but he didn't enjoy being around all the other ones that had never worked or been away from home.  Your son may like EOD better for that reason, they seem to be a little older.