SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE — As we continue Military Appreciation Week, we're giving you a behind-the-scenes look at a military job that's definitely not made for everyone.
They're called the Explosive Ordinace Disposal Unit, and their job is disarming bombs. It's not your normal 9-5.
"So originally I wanted to be a Marine and my Dad told me that I couldn't," explained E.O.D. team member Derek Wingler.
Little did Wingler know, that nudge from Dad would take his life in a whole new direction.
"So when he passed away I decided I was going to join the Air Force like he wanted me to, so I went to the recruiter and asked them what would be sort of similar and E.O.D was one of the options laid out on the table," added Wingler.
Being a member of E.O.D, or the Explosive Ordinance Disposal team takes a special kind of person.
"Umm, I was kind of a troublemaker in high school," explained Dave Dickey.
Dickey has 5 brothers, 4 were in the army and he and his younger brother are in the Air Force right now.
Dickey has been in the Air Force for 12 years and has deployed to the middle east 3 times.
"I just wanted to feel like I was doing a bit more, I always wanted to be a first responder and my Dad kind of pushed me to be a cop but that wasn't something I was super interested in," added Dickey.
So instead Dickey decided to disarm bombs for a living, among other things.
"We're just out here doing a training operation for a chemical attack," said Dickey.
Wingler, Dickey and the rest of the team train on a regular basis, making sure they're ready to deploy overseas at a moment's notice.
"Along with the training we have mission sets, range clearances and VIPS, support missions and things of that nature but we are always training to deploy and better ourselves," explained Wingler.
Training and deploying with each other for months on end creates a bond like no other.
"Yeah they're as close if not closer than your hereditary family when you can sit in the same room as someone and say that you'd lay your life down for them it's a pretty big deal," added Wingler.
A little-known fact about the Explosive Ordinance Disposal career field is, that, the job has a 75 percent attrition rate.
That means for every 500 airmen that start training for the job, only 125 will graduate and become a member of the E.O.D team.
