Barksdale AF Reservists receive The Bronze Star Medal

  • Published
  • By Maj. Clay Sanford and Tech. Sgt. Jeff Walston
  • 917th Wing Public Affairs
Barksdale AFB, La. --  Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) is an inherently dangerous job and requires months of training before an operator is ready for the battlefield. Traditional reservists in the career field face not only the challenge of less time and experience doing the job as their Regular Air Force counterparts, but also the added stress of family acceptance of a dangerous deployment.

Two Airmen from the 917th Wing, who successfully dealt with those challenges while deployed to the 755th Bravo EOD Flight in Afghanistan from Sept. 30 2009 to March 31, 2010, were recently awarded the prestigious Bronze Star Medal.

Technical Sergeants Brett Vickers and Jay Futrell of the 917th Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Flight at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., were each presented The Bronze Star Medal during ceremonies at Hoban Hall Sept. 12, 2010.

Both Sergeants Vickers and Futrell served as team leaders assigned with missions in direct support of Army units during their respective deployments.

Explosive Ordnance Disposal is a joint mission these days, especially in the combat environments of Southwest Asia. "It's outside the wire and not just the traditional job to support the airfield anymore," Sergeant Vickers said. "People think of EOD folks handling unexploded ordnance on the runway, but the mission has changed over the years to include much work to find and destroy improvised explosive devices."

A team leader is responsible for ensuring all equipment is in order and team members are ready to perform the mission at a moment's notice. They coordinate with their Army security elements, while on scene, to ensure everyone is as safe as possible while the EOD team is in charge of neutralizing the roadside bomb.

For EOD there are many challenges and obstacles to overcome to accomplish the mission.

Rough terrain is one of many obstacles EOD Airmen supporting the counter-IED mission face in Afghanistan. The additional challenges of living the Army life verses the one most Airmen are accustomed too is also a constant reminder of the career field they have chosen.

Severe weather is not uncommon in that part of the world, and Vickers recalled that his team responded to a request to disarm a bomb during a hailstorm.

Both Vickers and Futrell directly are credited with contributing to the destruction of 54,000 pounds of munitions items. Sergeant Vickers is also credited with contributing to the destructions of 128 improvised explosive devices.

The "EOD teams are always in high demand, too," Sergeant Vickers said. "With the sheer number of improvised explosive devices out there, we kind of needed to be everywhere at once."