EOD As Navy Career?

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Sandydesert

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DS 3/C came home for spring break Friday and told me he is extremely interested in becoming an EOD officer upon commissioning because " I like to be really active and don't want to sit around at a desk job filling out paperwork all day".

I have 2 questions: could a USNA grad on this board briefly and generally describe the type of schooling, training, career path and possible bases for EOD officers? Is it correct to believe that duty stations would be mainly OCONUS? I tried looking on this forum but didn't see the topic discussed much, only mentioned briefly in a couple of older posts. My second question is: After the Navy, what type of career would he have- engineering, business? Thank you so much.
 
Glad to see there is some interest in EOD. In answer to your questions...

A)
- Schooling/Training: After commissioning all Navy EOD Officers attend Dive School in Panama City, Fl for approx. 6-7 months (this is known as Joint Diving Officer (JDO)); then they attend the Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal (NAVSCOLEOD) EOD School at Eglin AFB for approx 12 months (this is longer than USA, USMC, and USAF counterparts who attend the same course because USN deals with a few more types of ordnance (mines, torpedoes, etc)); then all USN EOD personnel attend Basic Airborne at Fort Benning, GA (3 weeks); next is Expeditionary Combat Skills Training (ECS) in Gulfport, MS for a month; there is some tactical Navy EOD training (small boats, shooting, small unit tactics etc) for all USN EOD personnel at San Diego and China Lake, CA (approx 1 month), officers complete a two week platoon leader course; then the officers and enlisted report to their first duty station [See possible bases listed below]. Once reported aboard their first command, every new EOD technician (officers and enlisted alike) are trained as a team for approximately 10-12 months before deployment on a team, normally. This follow on training will include dive training, freefall jump training, team communications training, maintenance, team tactics, etc. For the next four years, EOD Officers will be assigned to an EOD Mobile Unit (EODMU) or a Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit (MDSU)

- Career Path: Of note the career path has not been updated since the return of JDO to the curriculum. JDO used to be called BDO (Basic Diving Officer) and lasted about 10 months. It was shortened to speed the progression of officers to the Fleet due to a high demand. The current Initial Training for USN EOD officers is actually a little closer to two full years. Here is a linked to the published, though outdated, career path...

http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/officer/Detailing/EOD/Documents/EOD Officer Career Path.pdf

- Possible Bases: 1st EOD Mobile Unit (EODMU) is one of four places, (1) EODMU 2, 6, and 12 located at Little Creek, Virginia (near Norfolk); (2) EODMU 1, 3, 11 located at Coronado, CA (near San Diego); EODMU 8 located at Rota, Spain; (4) EODMU 5 located at Agana, Guam

- No...most duty stations are stateside. However, the OpTempo for EOD is very high. The first several years will see a great deal of deployments, especially after training has taken so much time.

B) After the Navy, EOD officers can be found in all areas of business. I have friends from dive school who are surgeons, stock market traders, bankers, school teachers, venture capitalists, environmental engineers, and government consultants. The type of post-Navy career is bound only by the imagination of the individual. I think you will find that most post-Navy officers can find their own path regardless of previous education, Navy occupation, or major.
 
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