Six airmen last week became the first graduates of the Air Force’s new explosive ordnance disposal preliminary screening course, held at Sheppard AFB, Tex. The 20-day academic program is designed to challenge airmen mentally and physically and filter out the best candidates to proceed on to the next step in EOD training at the Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal at Eglin AFB, Fla. “This is a milestone that marks the progress in the careers of the airmen graduating today as well as the progress of improving the EOD training pipeline,” said Col. Kenneth Backes, commander of Sheppard’s 782nd Training Group at the June 27 graduation ceremony. “The students that were sent forward to Eglin were very motivated and showed a great internal drive to succeed in this career field,” noted MSgt. Vincent Pagano, 366th Training Squadron EOD flight chief. (Sheppard report by A1C Adawn Kelsey)
The new defense reconciliation bill includes $7.2 billion for Air Force and Navy aviation accounts, almost half of which will buy more F-15EXs. While electronic warfare, drones, connectivity and airlift all get attention, the F-35 was conspicuously absent from the package, with no explanation given.