R3, as part of a team led by Stronghold SOF Solutions, is pleased to announce the award for the Center for Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Diving (CEODD) Combat Skills contract. This award is a landmark milestone, over two years in the making for Team Stronghold, but has been an aspirational goal for the Navy EOD Community for even longer. CEODD Combat Skills will consolidate Expeditionary Combat Skills (ECS) previously taught in Gulfport, Mississippi with EOD Tactical Training in San Diego, California, instead hosting the training under Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal (NSEOD) at the Stronghold Test & Training Center (STTC) adjacent to Eglin AFB. This consolidation eliminates redundancy, repurposes travel days to training days, and ultimately saves the Navy time and money by conducting the training while the students are still on PCS orders vice TDY.
The new EOD Combat Skills COI is specifically designed to instruct newly graduated USN EOD Operators in skills to include: Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC), basic expeditionary communications, category three small arms qualifications, combat shooting fundamentals for crew served weapons, small unit tactics movement (foot and convoy) / land navigation skills, Helicopter Rope Suspension Techniques/Casting (HRST/CAST) basic qualification, and advance them to the Journeyman level for combat shooting and survivability. Team Stronghold has assembled a team of world-class SOF weapons, tactics, combat lifesaving, communications, and mobility combat skills instructors from across the Navy EOD and Special Operations Communities to execute the EOD Combat Skills COI for CEODD/NSEOD at NSEOD and STTC.
One critical component to this high-risk training COI is the Air Operations, which will be provided by XP Services. XP Services maintains and operates the same type of UH-60 Blackhawks that the students will operate from once assigned to their respective units. XP Services’ highly trained and experienced Aircrew, all former 160th Special Operations Air Regiment (SOAR), will provide exceptional and safe training for the new EOD Operators.
R3’s Program Manager will be Ken Martin, a combat veteran EOD Officer, long-time R3 alumni, and Panama City resident with close ties to the EOD Community. He will work closely with Stronghold’s Chief Operating Officer Tom Morton to accelerate the success of Combat Skills. Ken said this of the project, “You would be hard pressed to find a better team of operators to lead and mentor these newly minted EOD Technicians and provide them with world-class special operations training that will prepare them to quickly integrate into their platoons when they report to their Mobile Units. Having the right people, the right facilities, and the right experience along with the right EOD and Special Operations Community relationships, both local and nationwide, will guarantee the success of Combat Skills.” Team Stronghold will work closely and tirelessly with our counterparts at NSEOD and CEODD to make the Combat Skills program the best it can be.
R3 couldn’t be more excited about being part of Team Stronghold for this opportunity! We can’t think of a better way to christen R3’s new Niceville office than by kicking off Combat Skills in October.
