Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians

Commentaries

  • ID theft provides valuable lesson in holiday caution

    At age 16, my friend Michael and I were holed up in his bedroom, surrounded by thousands of “Star Wars” toys, using a Commodore VIC-20 computer to “war dial” into computer systems around the greater San Diego area. The war dialer dialed thousands of numbers. Every time a computer tone came up, the

  • Take care of one another this holiday season

    As a young airman first class in 1986, I spent my first holiday season away from friends and family. I was stationed at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, and was farther away from home than I had ever been.At the time, I was fortunate enough to have a supervisor who made sure his young airmen and

  • AF programs offer help for ‘the blues’

    I had heard the rhetoric about Air Force mental health programs and seen the commercials touting chaplains and life skills support centers. I figured they were for poor, desperate souls; definitely not for me. I took pride in standing on my own two feet, solving my own problems. Anyway, I didn’t

  • Taking care of family means getting affairs in order

    One day, when I was 12 years old, my grandmother sat me on her lap and told me my mother had been killed in a car accident. She was only 40. My brother, stepfather and I never saw this coming. Nor did we expect the chaos and disarray that followed.It didn't take long to understand my mother

  • You can make a difference

    Have you ever had an issue or idea you wanted someone to take action on, but felt like nobody would listen to you? Then, if someone did listen to you, did you find them saying, “It’s not going to happen because it would take an act of Congress to make those changes?"Regardless of past letdowns and

  • Giving thanks for America's guardians of freedom

    Since the Pilgrims’ original Thanksgiving celebration in the autumn of 1621, the hard work, sacrifices and continued vigilance of America’s soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and coast guardsmen have brought countless blessings to all Americans. The greatest among these are the freedom to pursue

  • A lot more people have reason to be thankful this year

    When I was in Iraq in late October, out on a Basra street patrol with the British Army, we had an Iraqi interpreter with us named Ahmed.Ahmed was a man is his late 30s who was partially bald and spoke broken English, but whenever he spoke it was easy enough to understand what he meant. During the

  • Winning the away game

    In October, like many of you, I was riveted by the World Series. The Florida Marlins and New York Yankees both played magnificently, with Florida gaining the crucial win in New York to become the World Champions.During the series, the Marlins had to win an “away game” to secure the overall victory.

  • Coming back from the darkness

    The other day I opened up a "significant events" report and read that an airman had killed himself. Just a few lines down, I saw where another had attempted suicide. As I looked at the words, I felt simultaneously sad and angry. But I also felt something more personal: understanding.I understand

  • The passenger

    Like most Americans, I find that I am pretty selfish sometimes. I learned just how selfish on a recent trip to Iraq. I was sitting on a C-130 Hercules waiting to leave a location I can’t spell or pronounce, when we got delayed. I was annoyed. I’d been traveling for hours trying to get to my