Capt. Steven Beall: Commanding Officer, U.S. Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal.

• Author: Tegler, Jan

Capt. Steven Beall has been commander of the Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal since August 2021. Located at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, the school conducts common basic training for Navy, Air Force, Army and Marine Corps EOD technicians who graduate from the school at the apprentice level.

Beall spoke with Jan Tegler via phone about the challenges of keeping the school's curriculum current as technology evolves. The article has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Q. Explosive ordnance disposal is an inherently risky mission. How do candidate EOD technicians come to Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal, and is the school facing any challenges in recruiting enough students to satisfy requirements?

A. We are a joint-like school, meaning that we get initial accession Air Force, Army and Navy personnel [from boot camp] through their respective pipelines. Marine Corps personnel are not initial accession. They have a requirement to be E-5 or E-6 before they're able to come to the program.

Currently the school is 143 training days. Those training days [apply to] all four branches of service. When that is completed, the Navy will continue on for an additional 63 training days. That is so that they can pick up the underwater side.

We start a new class here every four days with both enlisted and officers mixed together in the same class. We have about an 80/20 split on that. So, 80 percent will be initial accession regardless of branch of service. About 20 percent have fleet experience.

Right now, we're programmed at just shy of 1,100 quotas per year--1,096, I think. In terms of our flow through the school, we are on task to meet all of our quota requirements for this fiscal year. We're on the receiving end of manpower. The respective services make their determination on throughput. From a schoolhouse [perspective] we program in those requests, and we execute training for those that walk through our front door.

Q. New technologies, including directed energy, multi-domain drones and expanded use of robotics paired with artificial intelligence and machine learning are in-service or in prototype phases currently. How does the school keep abreast of developing technologies relevant to EOD?

A. We have several mechanisms in place that support that. The EOD Program Board has representation from all four branches of service and really kind of keeps us all communicating and working across one another's technology and training and where we're...