AFCEC EOD team members earn national honors

  • Published
  • By John Burt
  • AFCEC Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Air Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal is one of the toughest and most demanding career fields in the military. Recently, a national association of retired and active duty Air Force EOD personnel recognized two members of the Air Force Civil Engineer Center's EOD Division for outstanding contributions to the Air Force EOD program.

EOD Masterblasters honored AFCEC's David Brown and Senior Master Sgt. Ed Lockhart for their support of EOD Airmen. Brown, a retired chief master sergeant, is the recipient of the Charles S. Stevenson Lifetime Achievement award. During his active duty career, he held positions at all levels of command including as the EOD enlisted career field manager. Brown is currently the Air Force's explosive ordnance disposal subject matter expert.

Maj. Jason Warnick, AFCEC EOD Division Chief and former commander of Det. 3, 366th Training Squadron at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, remembers the guidance Brown provided.

"There were many points when we reached out to him for advice, help with funding avenues and historical lessons learned related to training," said Warnick. "The support he delivered was critical and timely."

Brown was instrumental in incorporating anti-terrorism procedures developed by the British that became the basis for counter improvised explosive device operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Additionally, he has contributed to the fields of explosive safety, range management and unexploded ordnance response for missions during both war and peacetime.

"David Brown has been at the forefront of EOD program management and has led the career field and joint service EOD program through significant transformation in training, organization and technical innovation," said Warnick. "He has served the EOD career field, the Air Force and the joint service community exceptionally well."

Senior Master Sgt. Ed Lockhart is the winner of the Active Duty Military EOD Technician of the Year award. As the training and operations program manager at AFCEC, Lockhart oversees training programs for 1,400 EOD Airmen and more than 4,000 joint service EOD troops. Lockhart established a counter-IED course at Nellis AFB, Nev., to provide advanced training for team leaders and enable them to hone their leadership and management skills for IED incidents. He also represented the Air Force on the joint service EOD training advisory board and was a key factor in molding technical and advanced training to increase the efficiency of the curriculum.

"Sergeant Lockhart has done a fantastic job revamping the training regimen for EOD technicians in the field," said Warnick. "He has developed and managed not only our conventional operations at home and abroad, but recently, the training for the special operations focus we've been involved in."

Lockhart was also instrumental in steering an initiative to establish focused medical care for combat wounded EOD troops, Warnick said, and he credits Lockhart's accomplishments to his character and work ethic.

"He's relentless on executing a task," said Warnick. "He goes after an objective wholeheartedly and he gets things done. Members of the career field are known to do that, but Sergeant Lockhart is extraordinary."