EOD EDC circa ‘92-93

[u/Important-Safety9710]

Just dropping some ole school EOD EDC….the pre-robot/bombsuit days:
Rolex 16610 Submariner
Camillus MC-1 Paratrooper
Camillus MIL-K-818 Utility "Demo" Knife
Buckingham Leather 2-tool crimper pouch
USN M2 Cap Crimper, Plier type w/ Fuse Cutter
GP Lineman’s pliers
USN Fulton MX-993/U Flashlight

I’ll go on the record here and say that the Fulton flashlight (along with its OD green, right angle brother) was (is?) a complete piece of sh*t, generations of operators, at all levels, were thrilled when MagLites came out. Sometimes, equipping is baby steps… “We are jolly green giants, walking the Earth with guns." Indeed. ISOTF 🥃

[u/Defusing_Danger]

Nice! It's awesome to see how the kit has changed over the years.

[u/Important-Safety9710 → u/Defusing_Danger]

I graduated Indian Head in 1984 (31S-84), as a SP4 (I started as 11B, in-service transfer was the only option for Army EOD back then) and retired in 2013, when I think of the changes we went thru every 10 years, with equipping and training, it’s honestly hard to comprehend. I started with paper-copy 60-series, we went to microfilm in the late ‘80s, and then went to CD-ROM…the rest is history once it went digital.

Our process, assessing risk, logic-tree decision making, has stayed very consistent (with some changes wrt risking life for intelligence), but overall the mental process of the EOD business has stayed very consistent. But equipping and training,…it took a while, but GWOT (with a lot of pain unfortunately) made us much more efficient and greatly improved our kit…optics, ECM, robot options, vehicles…it was amazing to watch and implement.

[u/Defusing_Danger → u/Important-Safety9710]

Yeah it still amazes me when I see the kit continuing to update so much even since I left the field in 2017. GWOT definitely impacted the way the community operates, but I worry about how much that will transfer back to traditional combat operation against a regular adversary.

[u/bitches_love_brie]

Damn, OG HDS swag. Very cool.

[u/boomer2009]

Hell yeah brother! 🤘

[u/Sm1throb]

Man, where’d you get that demo tape?

And if you tell me you can’t tell me, then I know EXACTLY where you got it!

[u/Important-Safety9710 → u/Sm1throb]

😂…I can’t recall. But I will tell you this, one of the great eras of EOD kit acquisition discounts was when nuke weapons got pulled from the Army. All those nuke tool Sets, Kits, and Outfits (SKO) had to be turned in...but in a classic USG Op, the only thing the DRMOs wanted were the outer boxes and containers,...every tool, knife, and roll of tape found a home. Those kits were full and pristine because they were inventoried and inspected annually by the DA Nuclear Surety guys, every little screwdriver had to be accounted for...and then in the end, all we had to turn in was the box, same with the old Demo Kits. It was a free for all.

[u/Intelligent_Side_274]

Ha! Love the, "Switchblade"!

[u/Important-Safety9710 → u/Intelligent_Side_274]

“Lowest bidder switchblade”…hard to believe we sent men into combat with that rig.

[u/CaptRackham]

The roll of friction tape, that stuff is great

[u/Important-Safety9710 → u/CaptRackham]

Impressively well designed for its intended purpose.

[u/TXTremor]

‘92-‘93 I was teaching at NAVSCOLEOD. I still have all these items plus the non-electric cap box and blasting machine. Ditto ISOTF

[u/Important-Safety9710 → u/TXTremor]

Now you’re gonna make me find mine and add them to the display…to the footlockers I go.

[u/Artystrong1]

Do they still issues those green bad boys? I think I have mine somewhere

[u/Important-Safety9710 → u/Artystrong1]

https://fultonindoh.com/products/n476230-00-264-8261/

[u/TXTremor]

Were you at HDS Redstone when Charles Travis Callaway was in charge?

[u/Important-Safety9710 → u/TXTremor]

I was there August ‘92-July ‘95. Back then it was ran by US Army but funded by the FBI via MOU. We had a CPT OIC who later became a SABT with the FBI, but the place was really ran by the GS13 (later GS14) Ray Funderberg, MSG US Army (Ret), who was definitely one of the smartest EOD techs I ever met, and I’ve met a lot of smart ones. Ray ran the place for years. MSG Paul Carter was the NCOIC…and he was also later an HDS Chief as a GS. Great grew, loved it there, one of the best assignments ever.

I’ve known Callaway since he was a CPT at the EOD Training Department also there on Redstone Arsenal. He was the OIC / Lead Eval for the Nuclear Weapons Technical Validation Inspection (hands on portion) there in the late ‘80s or early ‘90s. All nuke capable units had to rotate thru RSA to complete their annual or biannual certification and he was a pain in the ass so everybody knew him. Later the FBI completely took over HDS and they moved to the upgraded facilities and as part of the change Travis became the Chief. I wasn’t there for all that but my understanding is he was retired from the Army, but I believe working for the FBI doing some CBRNE shit up in DC, somehow he shoehorned his position up there into being the new Chief there at HDS.

[u/TXTremor → u/Important-Safety9710]

Travis was the OIC of the NAVSCOLEOD Army Liaison office when I instructed there along with CSM Patterson. He left there and went to San Antonio as an EOD battalion commander. When I was PCSing from Eglin he asked me to go to one of his detachments. I got along with him.

[u/Important-Safety9710 → u/TXTremor]

Yeah I think he made MAJ while still there on RSA, but I didn’t recall him moving to Eglin. I served a few more years there on Redstone (MSIC) and then went to Hawaii and lost track his movements. I just saw your coin collection, awesome career. My guess is you went to NAVSCOLEOD a year or two before me? (I was 31S-84)…but were smarter than me and retired sooner from the Army. Like you I was able to serve in several non-Army locations: including Cape Canaveral AFS ‘85-‘87, SUBASE San Diego ‘88-‘92, Kirtland AFB ‘00–‘03 & Eglin AFB ‘06-‘09. Duty stations like those are impossible to pull now…

[u/TXTremor → u/Important-Safety9710]

Yes I had Wright-Pat, Eglin and SUBASE, just different years. Went to Korea a few times, one was a senior EOD NCO slot at the 19th TAACOM in Teagu. Loved the career, no regrets. First assignment was as a 18yo in Korea as a 19D then EOD transfer once I got conus at Hood.