New EOD facility provides more space, training opportunities

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Brigitte Brantley
  • 23rd Wing Public Affairs
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  The 23rd Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal flight celebrated the opening of their new facility with a ribbon-cutting ceremony here Jan. 27.

The new compound was built to replace their former 1950s building and to increase safety, accommodate more EOD team members and provide for more training opportunities.

"The building that EOD occupies now is the second-oldest on base and was built in 1954," said James Holmes, 23rd CES EOD training technician. "The new building is a state-of-the-art building that allows us to trust the foundation we stand on. Although our previous building was safe, this one is built from the bottom up meeting modern construction standards, codes and practices."

The new building will feature approximately 7,700 square feet, with more additions to come.

"Our flight manning has recently increased by about 40 percent and so the increase in space will be really appreciated," said Capt. Rob Scott, 23rd CES EOD flight commander. "The new building provides not only more space, but many new features that will result in an all-around more efficient work environment.

In addition to a larger space, the convenient location of the new building will benefit both the EOD Airmen and those they respond to. It will be located near the Combat Arms Training and Maintenance range and is right outside the entrance of their own EOD training area.

"The new building is now centrally located between the areas we train in as well as common response areas," said Master Sgt. Eric Osborne, 23rd CES EOD flight superintendent. "We can respond quickly to the flightline and munitions storage areas, but will still have easy access to the rest of the base."

With the many modern features available in the new facility, the EOD Airmen are allowed even greater opportunities to train and prepare for contingency operations.

"With our high operations tempo EOD combat mission, the facility's new features will help better prepare our Airmen to conduct operations both at home station and deployed," Sergeant Osborne said. "There is a separate work area that has larger training areas and classrooms, and a state-of-the-art operations center.

"We also now have a weapons vault and climate-controlled equipment maintenance and storage bays," he added. "Finally, we now have exterior training grounds for small-scale explosive training as well as on-site explosive storage operations."

"In addition to this new facility, there are plans for another 5,000-square-foot warehouse to be built later this year," said Captain Scott. "This will be used to store and maintain deployable equipment, and is scheduled to be built by a Red Horse squadron."

Even though the $1.9 million construction project took months to plan and complete, the EOD leader says the wait was well worth it.

"The professional individuals from the 23rd CES programs flight have done a tremendous job since the inception of this project," said Captain Scott. "They have adapted to many challenges ranging from acquiring adequate funding to changing design and construction aspects. They have gone out of their way to provide a facility that will significantly increase our combat readiness and quality of life."