EOD Group 2 Cuts Ribbon on New EOD Operations Facility

Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Group 2 marked a milestone in ongoing construction projects with a ribbon-cutting for a new EOD operations facility at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Sept. 5.

The new building, which will house EOD Mobile Unit 2, EOD Mobile Unit 12 and EOD Expeditionary Support Unit 2, is part of a $39.2 million project that was developed in support of the EOD consolidation initiative.

The EOD consolidation initiative is aimed at streamlining training and consolidating the EOD mobile units to its two main geographic hubs while maintaining forward-deployed forces.

“This has been a long time coming,” said Capt. Josh Jackson, commander, EOD Group 2. “This project was first visualized years ago as a way to get our Sailors in one place. Today, it is going to provide our force a more centralized location to prepare our warfighters to go down range.”

The building, which has both office spaces and platoon spaces, broke ground in 2016 and will serve as a more centralized location, keeping EOD technicians and support personnel together to better accomplish their challenging mission.

Navy EOD technicians are the world’s premier combat force for countering explosive hazards in any terrain and are the only EOD force that conducts underwater mine countermeasures, exploitation and attribution of underwater ordnance.

“This ribbon-cutting means that we are putting Sailors in a facility worthy of their contribution on the battlefield,” Jackson said.

Following his remarks, Jackson cut the ribbon being held by two bomb disposal robots. Instead of using a ceremonial pair of scissors, he cut the ribbon with a zero-point hook knife attached to a pulley, a system used to remotely conduct EOD procedures.

EOD Group 2, headquartered at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story (JEBLCFS), oversees all East Coast-based Navy EOD mobile units, including one forward-deployed mobile unit in Spain, as well as EOD Expeditionary Support Unit 2, EOD Training and Evaluation Unit 2, and the only East Coast-based mobile diving and salvage unit, Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 2.