New Special Pay, Bonuses May Be Coming for Navy EOD Techs as Mission Evolves

U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) sailors could see more money from special pays and bonuses under a new vision to prepare the specialized force for large-scale naval warfare.

Navy officials on Wednesday unveiled the new Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Strategic Vision 2030, a plan designed to use the lessons of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan to counter the much larger, more sophisticated weapons available to a major adversary such as Russia or China.

“What makes this unique for Navy EOD is that the last time the Navy EOD community put out a strategic vision was in March of 1997,” Capt. Oscar Rojas, commodore of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group One, told defense reporters at the Pentagon. “A lot of things have happened since March of 1997 to include Sept. 11, 2001, and 17 years of combat operations that have forced our community … to evolve.”