SEPTEMBER 2, 2021 – A U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician from the Fort Bragg, North Carolina-based 192nd Ordnance Battalion (EOD) “Renegades” coordinated a large scale combat operations training exercise in support of the Immediate Response Force.
Staff Sgt. Joshua D. Turner served as the noncommissioned officer-in-charge for a joint full mission profile exercise where he planned and synchronized training evolutions for EOD technicians from the 722nd EOD Company and 767th EOD Company.
Over 72 hours, Turner worked with infantry and aviation units in the 82nd Airborne Division to support 30 different training scenarios across eight ranges on Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Eight EOD teams participated in a variety of combat scenarios from assaulting an enemy compound with an infantry platoon at night to defusing a lodged projectile in a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that took fire on an airfield.
Part of the 722nd EOD Company, Turner is a former infantry Soldier who became an EOD tech because he wanted to be one of the Soldiers who “blew up the (Improvised Explosive Devices) rather than the person who found them.”
Turner said his platoon sergeant at the time highly encouraged him to switch to EOD and follow his passion. Prior to joining the U.S. Army, Turner was an emergency medical technician and an anesthesia technician. He has deployed to Afghanistan twice, once as an infantry Soldier in 2012 and then again as an EOD technician in 2019. The West Covina, California, native has also conducted EOD missions in Africa.
The 192nd EOD Battalion has companies on Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Belvoir, Virginia; and Fort Drum, New York. The battalion provides EOD support to conventional and Special Operations forces, as well as the U.S. Secret Service. Soldiers from the battalion also respond to military munitions found on and off base across 15 states.
The battalion is part of the 52nd EOD Group and 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives (CBRNE) Command. Headquartered on Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, and based on 19 installations in 16 states, the 20th CBRNE Command confronts and defeats the world’s most dangerous weapons to support military operations and domestic authorities.
According to 1st Lt. Delanie A. Weliver, Turner set a new standard for company training.
“His determination for a successful training event has surpassed many,” said Weliver, a 722nd EOD Company platoon leader from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “His efforts increased the readiness of 14 EOD technicians, both physically and mentally, for a Secretary of Defense initiative enabling the XVIII Airborne Corps’ Immediate Response Force mission.”
Story by Walter Ham
20th CBRNE Command