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EOD technician wins prestigious award

  • Published
  • By Stephen Delgado
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  A 56th Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician was named as the recipient of the Maj. Gen. Eugene A. Lupia Civil Engineering Military Technician of the year award Jan. 17 for his outstanding work in the explosive disposal field. Senior Airman Edward Garwick received the award Thursday in Washington.

There are many life-threatening dangers in Afghanistan from insurgent forces to extreme weather conditions, but the most prolific threat can't be seen -- the improvised explosive device.

The IED has been responsible for most of the deaths and severe injuries of American and coalition forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.

However, there are people whose principle task is to spot and defuse this horrifying weapon. Luke Air Force Base has a group of technicians that perform this highly risky and dangerous job.

Airman Garwick is one of those technicians. His performance in fiscal 2010 earned him Air Education and Training Command and Air Force-level awards.

The award is named for Maj. Gen. Eugene Lupia, a career Air Force civil engineer, who was the Air Force civil engineer from 1995 to his retirement in 1999. He entered the Air Force in 1967 after graduating from the Air Force Academy.

"This award is packaged based, meaning it showed accomplishments throughout the year," Airman Garwick said.

A six-month tour in Afghanistan from October 2009 to April 2010 challenged his experience and skills to the max.

"I was deployed to Forward Operating Base Shank in Logar Province," Airman Garwick said. "I was really glad to be part of a three-man team from Luke, which also consisted of fellow EOD technicians, Staff Sgts. Ryan Winger and Mark Hangsleben. We spent most of the tour clearing and defusing IEDs from the roadways. One of the really important tasks after defusing an IED was to collect evidence that would hopefully lead to the capture of the perpetrators."

The tour in Afghanistan was a precedent-setting trip.

"We became the first EOD team to work with an Afghan bomb squad," Airman Garwick said. "It was a gratifying experience because we developed a friendship with them. We had dinner and did our physical training with them."

Upon returning, Airman Garwick went through a challenging professional military education course.

"It was an intense two-week, six-days-a-week course learning the history of the Marine Corps, as well as their customs and courtesies," Airman Garwick said. "In August I was tasked with training Marines from the Reserve Boat Fueler Company for a weekend in Flagstaff. We set up an IED lane to teach the Marines the dangers of IEDs and how to recognize them."

Sergeant Winger said the award reflected on the accomplishments of Airman Garwick and on his overall character.

"Airman Garwick is a good EOD operator," he said. "He is a good reflection of what EOD does on a daily basis."