Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technicians
Think blowing stuff up is just for guys? Think again. Women in the Navy can become Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians (EOD techs). EOD techs protect and save lives by rendering safe both foreign and domestic explosives.
What else do EOD techs do?
EOD techs routinely work with the U.S. Secret Service and State Department, helping to protect the President, Vice President, and other American and foreign officials and dignitaries. They support the U.S. Department of the Treasury, U.S. Customs Office, FBI, and state police bomb squads. EOD techs also assist in planning and enforcing security at large world events, such as the Olympics or world–leader summits.
EOD techs eliminate explosive ordnance hazards that jeopardize operations in support of national security and military strategies. They locate, evaluate, disarm, and sometimes detonate bombs, missiles, mines, and other explosives. Their job takes them all over the world, helping to clear minefields, preparing coastal areas for amphibious landings, and providing intelligence about potential threats both here in the States and abroad.
How do I get to be an EOD tech?
In the Navy, you're encouraged to achieve. With a lot of training and practical field experience, EOD techs learn skills such as diving and parachuting, and they also need to know how to handle electronics, a variety of explosives, and high–tech equipment.
Following Basic Training, EOD candidates spend almost a full year in various training sessions designed to prepare them for emergency situations. Considering that these technicians handle almost any kind of bomb from land mines to nuclear war devices and can arrive on the job site from air, sea, or land, EOD training is physically and mentally challenging. But this is one of the Navy's many positions where you're actively involved in saving lives, helping people, and being a heroine all at the same time. For more information visit the section on EOD technicians.
Master–At–Arms
You knew what you wanted to be even as a young girl. You saw the uniforms, heard the sirens, and respected their protective presence in your neighborhood. You dreamed of being a police officer, but you wondered if there was an avenue available to you. The Navy lets women follow their dreams.
What is an MA?
Master–at–Arms, or MAs, are the Navy's police force. They enforce, protect, and serve by providing law enforcement, physical protection, and anti–terrorism measures for the entire Navy community, on land and at sea. As a female MA, you earn the same respect and pay, and receive the same job opportunities as men do.
What do MAs do?
MAs work wherever there's a Navy presence. They organize and train personnel assigned to security and overseas shore patrol duties, conduct crime prevention programs, operate Navy brigs (jails), assist in crowd control and confrontation situations, and handle and care for dogs that detect narcotics and explosives. Any Master–at–Arms position is open to women.
What kind of specialized training do MAs have?
Candidates participate in six weeks of specialized training at academies such as the Law Enforcement/Master–at–Arms (LE/MA) School at the Naval Technical Training Center (NTTC) located in San Antonio, Texas.
During their time there, MA candidates go through intensive training in all aspects of police work. They need to learn crime scene investigation methods, such as how to locate and assemble any physical evidence. When the evidence leads to suspects and victims, students learn how to question and gather further information that can help solve the crime. And, if suspects confess or provide information leading to their arrest, the MAs–in–training need to know the law, how to restrain and handcuff the perpetrators, and when and how to use the right amount of force.
Another part of the training consists of computerized firearms simulators with digitized video training scenarios that mimic potential hazards on the job. This training system is used as a tool to measure the Sailor's judgment in the use of force, decision–making skills, and marksmanship.
On–the–job training
Once students receive their diploma, they will be assigned to a security detachment, on land or at sea, under the guidance of a Field–Training Officer. The Field–Training Officer acts as a mentor for the new MAs, providing the specific procedures for that command.
New security police officers, women as well as men, will normally assume duties that could include guarding gates at facilities around the world, flight–line security, base security patrol, or fence–line security.
With time, MAs will then have the opportunity to enter various Phase II training programs, which will add to their abilities. Eventually, most security policemen assume a field specialty, such as military working dogs, investigations, mobile security force, or corrections, and they develop expertise in that area. In the Navy, women have the same opportunities as men to explore their interests as an MA.
Cool tools for MAs
Technology is another very important tool that MAs have at their disposal. For example, Naval Station Pearl Harbor security now has an X–ray device that scans commercial vehicles requesting entry onto the base for potentially dangerous materials. Once the vehicle is scanned, specially trained MAs analyze the images for contraband, such as illegal weapons. The X–ray helps save the MAs time, makes incoming vehicle waits at the gate shorter, and provides the entire base with a stronger sense of security.
And, if you're interested in canines, Military Working Dogs (MWDs) are highly trained team members with capabilities that, in many ways, make them valuable members of the law–enforcement team. They can sniff out explosives and narcotics, have superior hearing ability, and can help control suspects with a show of teeth and a menacing growl. MAs who become MWD handlers must train with their dogs so they learn to work together as a team.
The best–suited MWD breeds are Belgian Malinois and German shepherds. Their keen sense of smell and overall temperament make them a better choice than bigger, stockier–built breeds.
MAs are extremely valuable members of the Navy, continuously working to preserve order and discipline and to maintain the all–important core values of honor, courage, and commitment. So if you've always wanted to be a police officer but thought the job might be unavailable to you as a woman, the Navy offers you the opportunities you've been looking for. -- Jim Devine
"The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side." -- James Baldwin