An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Joint Base MDL senior NCO supports EOD training event in Kyrgystan

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
  • Air Mobility Command Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  For the fifth time since July 2009, explosive ordnance disposal Airmen with the 376th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron at the Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan, held an information exchange with their EOD counterparts in the Kyrgz military Dec. 16.

Among those Airmen supporting the military-to-military information exchange and training was Master Sgt. John Rehak, the 376th ECES EOD flight chief. Sergeant Rehak is deployed to Kyrgyzstan from Air Mobility Command's 87th Civil Engineer Squadron, 87th Air Base Wing, at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.

According to a news report from 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs Dec. 16, the training event Sergeant Rehak supported "assists to accomplish a goal of executing a bi-lateral engagement with Kyrgyzstan and highlights the ability to conduct joint EOD training with Air Forces Central EOD counterparts."

As a career EOD Airman, this kind of training fits in with Sergeant Rehak's job skills and experience. According to the official Air Force job description for the 3E8X1 career field for EOD, Sergeant Rehak performs, supervises and manages explosive ordnance disposal operations and is trained to locate, identify, disarm, neutralize, recover and disposes of hazardous explosives to include "conventional, chemical, biological, incendiary and nuclear ordnance; and criminal or terrorist devices."

As an EOD superintendent at a deployed location, holding a joint military event with the Kyrgyzstan military makes sense in not only building partnerships with the host nation, but also for building plans. His Air Force job description shows he's required to "plan EOD contingency operations." To do this he develops operation plans -- to include plans of working with host nation EOD experts -- as well as concepts of operation and operating instructions on EOD employment.

The Transit Center at Manas was activated in December 2001 when coalition forces deployed to Manas International Airport and began supporting Operation Enduring Freedom and the International Security Assistance Force after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the 376th AEW fact sheet states. The base continues to promote regional stability in Central Asia.

At his home station with the 87th ABW, Sergeant Rehak supports an effort to provide installation management to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, the nation's only tri-service joint base, according to the Joint Base MDL Web site. The wing also "provides mission-ready, expeditionary Airmen to support unified combatant commanders in on-going military operations," such as Sergeant Rehak. The wing consists of more than 3,100 officers, enlisted, and civilian personnel from the Air Force, Army and Navy.

(Staff Sgt. Nathan Bevier, 376th AEW Public Affairs, contributed to this report.)