News & Events

News & Events

R3 welcomes Robert Hodges

We are excited to welcome Rob Hodges to R3.  He recently retired from the United States Air Force as a Master EOD Technician and Chief Master Sergeant after more than 30 years of service.  Following graduation from EOD School, he served in a variety of operational and staff assignments, notably as the Command EOD Functional Manager at all three USAF combat commands:  United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), and Air Combat Command (ACC).   Rob has served in a variety of Joint, Combined, and SOF positions and served throughout the U. S. Central Command region including combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.   His last three deployed assignments include:  Command EOD Functional Manager at HQ Air Force’s Central-Forward, Superintendent J-3/5 and the Air Force Senior Enlisted Advisor to the commander at CJTF Troy (Iraq), and most recently as Chief Enlisted Manager, 966 Operating Location Bravo at CJTF Paladin (Afghanistan).

With his selection as the EOD Career Field Manager, Rob attained the most prominent senior enlisted leadership position for Air Force EOD.  He served in this capacity for over four years providing leadership, guidance and enlisted force management in all facets of operations, training, equipping and employing EOD assets. He was also responsible for guiding service pipeline and expeditionary training requirements for a total force of 1,500 Airmen.  His final assignment was Command EOD Functional Manager for Air Combat Command, responsible for over 360 personnel across 12 locations.   In that role, he guided modernization for the EOD career field and directed initial operational testing of emerging technologies.  He also acted as force provider to Headquarters Air Force J31, representing Air Force capabilities to the joint EOD community and developing sourcing solutions to meet combatant commander requirements.

Rob is a 2011 graduate of the Joint Special Operations Forces Senior Enlisted Academy, MacDill AFB, FL.  He studied USAF Enterprise Management at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, leadership at the Gettysburg Leadership Experience, the Center for Creative Leadership, the Chief Master Sergeant Leadership Course and is a 2009 graduate of Keystone, National Defense University, Alexandria, VA.

R3 welcomes Ken Martin

We are excited to welcome aboard Ken Martin to the R3 family.  He retired from the United States Navy after twenty-three years of service and was piped ashore during a retirement ceremony held at the Navy Diving and Salvage Training Center (NDSTC) in Panama City, Florida.  See a retirement photo at this link.  Ken began his service as a Navy Diver at Trident Refit Facility Bangor, WA.  He served onboard USS Simon Lake in La Madalena, Italy and at Naval Operational Medicine Institute, Pensacola, FL.  He was commissioned in 2000 through the Enlisted Commissioning Program after graduating from the University of Washington and subsequently joined the Special Operations Officer Community.

Post commissioning, Ken continued to serve in a variety of areas including Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Navy Diving, Surface Warfare, and Mine Warfare.  He is well versed in Irregular Warfare, Counter Insurgency, Counter IED / Anti-Terrorism, Security Force Assistance, and NATO / Coalition partnership. He completed two combat deployments to Iraq working directly with coalition and Iraqi forces where he earned two Bronze Stars.  Specifically, his Platoon was assigned to train the Iraqi Bomb Disposal Forces.

In the area of training and education, Ken served as Executive Officer (Acting) at the Center for EOD and Diving (CEODD).  He coordinated the establishment of a PEP instructor position at Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center with an exchange Master Diver position in Cartagena, Spain.  Ken also headed the initiative to revamp the EOD Officer warfare qualification and associated standards; creating an EOD Officer Qualification as well as a Department Head level qualification.

Ken’s formal education includes a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Washington and a Master’s degree in Operational and Information Science from the Naval Postgraduate School in the Special Operations for Low Intensity Conflict Department.