A place to 'reflect': Ground broken for 'Remembrance Area' for fallen EOD personnel at Eglin AFB

EGLIN AFB — Reinforcing the tightly held ideal that military personnel who serve, or have served, in explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) work are a family, the nonprofit EOD Warrior Foundation is adding a "Remembrance Area" at the Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal (NAVSCOLEOD) near Niceville.

In addition to honoring the memory of fallen EOD technicians, the EOD Warrior Foundation provides financial assistance and support to active-duty, Reserve, National Guard, retired and veteran EOD technicians and their families. It also offers peer-to-peer support, morale events, educational programs and connection to resources that may be helpful to them.

NAVSCOLEOD trains EOD personnel in all of the nation's military services, and a memorial to members of the EOD community who have fallen in the line of duty has been maintained since 1970. The memorial was moved from the original site of EOD training in Indian Head, Maryland, to Eglin Air Force Base in 1999.

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The memorial comprises four cenotaphs — stone monuments to people who have died elsewhere, one each for the Navy, Army, Air Force and Marines — with the names of the fallen on metal plates attached to the appropriate monument. The monument's names date back to World War II.

Each year on the first Saturday in May, the EOD Memorial is the site of a ceremony to "commemorate fallen EOD technicians to recognize and preserve the legacy of the service and sacrifices of our fallen warriors and their families," according to the EOD Warrior Foundation.

Expanding on that mission, the foundation broke ground Monday on a nearby piece of ground for a Remembrance Area to recognize EOD personnel who have passed on from causes other than combat action and to provide a place for reflection on the work of EOD technicians.

According to Greg Mittelman, chairman of the foundation's board of directors and a retired Air Force EOD airman, the Remembrance Area is an "absolutely critical" part of the foundation's work to maintain the family ties among EOD personnel and to honor the work of those personnel.

The reality of those close ties also was noted by the NAVSCOLEOD commanders on hand for Monday's groundbreaking — Marine Lt. Col. Don Pilcher, Army Lt. Col. Caleb Lewis and Air Force Lt. Col. Jeff Ledoux, as well as by Marine Master Gunnery Sgt. Michael Schuchhardt, the senior enlisted service member at NAVSCOLEOD.

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One aspect of the Remembrance Area will be as a place to honor EOD personnel who may not have fallen on the battlefield but who may have later — along with their families — had to deal with the after-effects of their service, including post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury.

"People survive the battlefield more than they used to," Mittelman said after Monday's groundbreaking.

Mittelman said the Remembrance Area also is intended as a place for people with ties to the EOD community to find some comfort and solitude, and to be "a safe place for them to reflect" on the world of the EOD technician and their families and loved ones.

The Remembrance Area will have simple stone benches surrounding a statue that represents the EOD warrior, and will not in any way affect the nearby EOD Memorial. The Remembrance Area, which won't include individual plaques, is being installed at a cost of $100,000. The money is coming from donations to the EOD Memorial Foundation.

Kellie Perry, who chairs the EOD Warrior Foundation committee working to establish the Remembrance Area, described it Monday as "a reflective garden area" that will help to reinforce the ideal of the "EOD family for life."

The landscape design is being done by Brandon Wise, founder and CEO of Wyscape, a Niceville-based landscape contracting firm. It will be the first work that Wyscape has done on Eglin. It also will be something of a departure for the company, which does mostly residential projects, Wise said.

But Wise is moved by his company's involvement, saying at Monday's groundbreaking that "we're really blessed to be a part of it."

A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held when the Remembrance Area is completed.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Eglin: EOD Warrior Foundation breaks ground on 'Remembrance Area'