Questions and Answers: Captain Steven Beall, Commander, US Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal
Department of Defense photo
Captain Steven Beall has served as commanding officer of the Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal School since August 2021. Located at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, the school provides common basic training for Navy EOD technicians, from Air Force, Army and Marine Corps graduates from the school. at apprentice level.
Beall spoke by phone with Jan Tegler about the challenges of keeping curriculum up-to-date as technology evolves. The article has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q. Explosive ordnance disposal is an inherently risky mission. How do EOD technician candidates arrive at the Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal School, and is the school facing challenges recruiting enough students to meet the requirements?
A. We are a joint-type school, meaning we receive initial personnel from the Air Force, Army, and Navy (from boot camp) through their respective pipelines. Marine Corps personnel do not constitute initial membership. They must have an E-5 or E-6 level before they can participate in the program.
Currently, the school has 143 days of training. These training days (apply) to all four branches of service. Once this operation is completed, the Navy will continue its training for an additional 63 days. This is so they can capture the underwater side.
We start a new class here every four days with soldiers and officers mixed in the same class. We have about an 80/20 split on this. So 80 percent will be initial memberships, regardless of branch of service. About 20 percent have fleet experience.
Right now we are scheduled for just under 1,100 allowances per year – 1,096, I think. Regarding our flow in the school, we are tasked with meeting all of our quota requirements for this financial year. We receive labor. The respective services determine the throughput. From a school’s perspective, we schedule these requests and we execute trainings for those who come through our front door.
Q. New technologies, including directed energy, multi-domain drones, and expanded use of robotics combined with artificial intelligence and machine learning, are currently in operation or in the prototype phase. How does the school keep up to date with the development of technologies relevant to ODL?
A. We have several mechanisms in place that support this. The EOD Program Board is made up of representatives from all four branches of service and allows us to kind of communicate and work off of each other in technology and training and the areas in which we are leading the community to the future.
To support these elements, you have two separate groups that come together. You have the Military Technical Acceptance Board, commonly known as MTAB. They focus on all of our technology. Then there is the Technical Training Acceptance Council, which deals solely with training. There is a representative from each branch of service who sits on these boards.
This is what keeps the EOD community in dialogue. It’s this opportunity for sharing as we look at all issues from a different perspective. How to put these pieces together?
These two groups also communicate regularly to discuss, “Hey, here’s my lack of training based on this emerging threat, and I need a technology solution to help me defeat this threat.” » These groups are in constant communication to work on these elements.
Some problems are really long-term, and the technology side is going to solve a problem and solve a problem. That element of training on what this is going to look like is why we’re getting ahead of ourselves in this area. Is this (technology) relevant and is this the right place to teach it?
This is also a question that arises. Is the Naval EOD School at apprentice level the appropriate place to provide training? We have training sites outside of school that can also provide training.
Q. Where do the instructors come from? And do they help keep the school’s curriculum up to date by bringing with them knowledge about new ideas or EOD technology?
A. Our instructors come from all four branches. Instructors are determined by the number of quotas requested by individual services. If the Army determines they want 350 quotas, there is a formula and they will provide X number of instructors. We have a good mix of instructors here, based on those quota requirements, all from operational units. They had the opportunity to operate in the field. They report this operational experience here. The experience and their ability to talk to students and teach them how it applies in real life transcends some of the difficult points of learning. Every branch here has a service commander and they also represent a wealth of knowledge, all O-5s. They provide guidance and oversight to their staff and students.
Are they a source of information about new technologies and new ideas? Absolutely, we have working groups here between the instructors to coordinate these kinds of things. How can we improve our training processes and what have they seen in the operational environment?
Q. How are emerging technologies integrated into the school curriculum?
A. We conduct an ongoing review of the relevance of training to the program. As new technologies arrive, the first thing we want to do is train our instructors on what is emerging. They will go through this process and then we will see what the final state will look like.
Through this training suitability review process, we will begin to adjust the curriculum so that we can make changes to align with new technologies and ensure our instructors are aware of what we are adding to the curriculum as a tool. then modify the program to support this flow and these tests. We develop a plan to evaluate whether we are teaching students the right skills to use a new tool.
The school always focuses on the essentials first. We do this despite our technology.
As new technologies are implemented, we plan ahead as the program evolves slowly to ensure we don’t make massive rudder moves in what we do. We partner with the Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division and what’s happening online in the industry.
We generally take about two years to get it up and running. So while it’s still in production, we’re already discussing how we’re going to implement it (into the program).
Q. What new technologies have recently entered the school curriculum?
A. Probably the most recent thing we’ve implemented here has been the use of our (unmanned aerial vehicles). We have installed the drones at our advanced training site located here. We are authorized to control and exploit them and we have integrated this into a tool. We’re still integrating our tactics, our techniques and our procedures on how we’re going to use them.
Pupils leave school as apprentices. When they become companions, they will return for advanced training and have the opportunity to actually use the drones.
One of our newer technologies that applies to our basic training, particularly in the Navy, would be our underwater systems that we are beginning to integrate. These are long deadlines since we add them to the program. Sometimes we consider adding days to our schedule to support this.
Q. Even as technology advances, there seems to be a greater demand today for creativity and improvisation from EOD technicians to deal with new threats. How does the instruction reflect this?
A. The key element for an EOD technician, regardless of their branch of service, is critical thinking so they can look at a situation holistically and assess risks. But they also have to project themselves while they play the tape. If I do this, this is what will happen.
When it comes to technology and how we look at the future, we look at what our potential threats are and we put that tape out there. What does it look like ? Critical thinking is what makes EOD technicians successful.
We start with a crawl, walk, run approach (training) so we can give students the basics. They will begin to consolidate the different training divisions that they follow as they move through ground munitions and continue to move toward air munitions. By the time they get to (improvised explosive devices), critical thinking is activated.
When you look at a state-sponsored ground or air munition, once you can understand what it is, it’s kind of a methodical approach. When you start getting into improvised explosive devices, you really start to expand how you approach a problem and we see (students) have that “ah ha” moment.
Q. Does the school also emphasize low-tech solutions or old methods that can become relevant again in times of peer conflict?
A. That really hits the nail on the head. When I talked about the basic principles of how to neutralize an explosive device, this still applies. Technology is just a tool. The basic mechanical tools they learn and their basic understanding are fundamental to using the latest technology.
We are talking about directed energy sources for track clearance. All of these things are just tools in the bag. The critical thinking that EOD technicians learn is that they will assess the environment as a whole, that threat assessment, and decide which tool is appropriate for the problem they see at that time.
Q. What is your biggest challenge leading the school at the moment?
A. We recruit very talented and highly educated people. As we have evolved over time, students see life from different perspectives. We found that we need to meet them where they are at, in terms of how they digest information, how they are able to assimilate it and teach them to think critically about an EOD problem. Our instructors adapt to this. ND
The subjects: Emerging technologies