Ken Normand

Ken Normand joined R3 in 2010 and is a plank owner of the company, serving as one of R3’s senior program managers. He currently manages three distinct R3 program portfolios: Civilian UXO Risk Mitigation (including maritime cable-laying support operations), International Counter-IED Training (recent projects supporting both Italy and Canada), and the Joint Service EOD Pipeline Training Program, executed through R3 prime contracts supporting EOD and Diving instructor requirements at both the Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal (NAVSCOLEOD) and the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center (NDSTC).

In this role, Mr. Normand provides senior-level leadership, operational oversight, and risk management for high-hazard, real-world training and operational support projects, drawing directly on decades of hands-on experience supervising complex, time-critical, and safety-intensive evolutions.

Mr. Normand retired from the U.S. Navy after 22 years of active service as a Master Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technician. His assignments included overseas mobile units and emergency response shore detachments in the Philippines, Guam, and Panama City, Florida. Early tours encompassed diving, demolition, explosive research and development, parachuting operations, and emergency response to World War II–era unexploded U.S. and Japanese ordnance throughout the Western Pacific.

He served as Air Operations Officer and Readiness and Training Leading Chief at EOD Mobile Unit FIVE, where he was responsible for all aspects of parachuting, air mobility operations, and force readiness. Mr. Normand completed combat deployments in support of Operation Desert Storm and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). During OEF, he was assigned to the Combined Explosive Exploitation Cell (CEXC), providing weapons technical intelligence in support of a theater-wide counter-IED campaign against anti-coalition militia, al-Qaeda, and Taliban forces.

His personal decorations include the Bronze Star Medal and the Combat Action Ribbon.

Mr. Normand holds degrees in both Homeland Security and Weapons of Mass Destruction from American Military University. His professional qualifications include Master Training Specialist, HALO Freefall Jumpmaster, Static-Line Jumpmaster, and Helicopter Rope Suspension Training (HRST) Master Instructor. He possesses extensive experience with homemade explosives (HME) and has completed advanced HME training at U.S. national laboratories.

Mr. Normand’s final active-duty assignment was as Lead Instructor for IED Training at the Joint Service Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal, where he trained future EOD technicians in the foundational skills required to safely defeat the enemy’s use of improvised explosive devices.