S.E.A.L. and E.O.D

[Raider]

What is the best path to take as far as being a S.E.A.L. and a E.O.D. diver? Would it be better to go E.O.D. first or S.E.A.L. first ,and while in the S.E.A.L.s put in for E.O.D. school. Would a person's training be any differant being E.O.D. qualified in the S.E.A.L.s and would it limit his training to E.O.D. type training?

[saracen]

I'm sure BMF will see your post and respond...I'm sure he knows a few twinpin EOD types (and unlike me, he is fully familiar with the intracacies of the Navy's program). If he doesn't see your post go to the general EOD board and ask him there.
P.S. all of the twinpins I know were SEAL's first then went to EOD school. Some operated with the teams for their entire careers, where as others left the SEAL program and spent the rest of thier time as EOD operators.

[bmf]

Gee this is a tough question. Both communities have a long hard path to earning their respective N.E.C.s (qualifications).
Most twin pins (both EOD and SEAL) that I know were SEAL first. There is a few guys that were EOD first then went through BUDS.
I would speculate that it would be pretty hard to endure some of the harder days at BUDS knowing you have a good job (EOD) to fall back on. Though the jobs parallel in many ways they remain fundamentally different. I usually explain it as the SEAL Teams are the Navy's offense, with EOD being defensive in nature. Harbor defense is a good example of this. (The "bad" frogmen try to attack our ships and EOD will try to defend using marine mammals, electronic gadgets, and finally, EOD divers down there pulling off limpets once an attack is suspected. As far as an EOD qualled SEAL serving as an operational frog: I have only worked with one guy and his skills were pretty rusty (because he had a hard time getting "upkeep" training.) In the 80's it was not uncommon to find EOD qualified frogs, but lately that has become more and more uncommon. (maybe due to the increase in technological advancements, as EOD requires more and more training to keep sharp.) To summarize I suggest BUDS first. If you make it through BUDS and still want to go EOD I imagine you'd have to be pretty motivated to give all that up. So hopefully I shed a little insight (beside just rambling).

[Raider]

Thank you bmf, for your reply. In reguards to the one operator that you were talking about that his skills were rusty. Is that why E.O.D. techs work with special op. units rather than being a S.E.A.L., Force Recon Marine, or in S.F.s etc., so they can keep their skills honed?

[bmf]

We work with various Special Operations forces for different missions. Some high speed examples might be if boobytraps were expected or maybe a hostage is rigged with a "body bomb". A low speed example would be FID (usually demining) with Army SF. I won't get to far in depth with the next reason we may go in with a team: just understand EOD can defuse nuke, bio, and chemical weapons. Make your own conclusions there.
EOD is a great job but has little room for mistakes. To be good at it you need to practice and get good training. Most Spec Ops guys have there hands full with other skills they must maintain. SO viola, they bring us along. This is why we maintain weapons, comms, and tactical skills (jump, fastrope, etc,,,). I hope this answered your question.