EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- The inaugural Explosive Ordnance Women’s Leadership Summit was held Aug. 8-10, celebrating 50 years of women in the Explosive Ordnance Disposal career field.
The event brought together service members from across the globe for two days of leadership, mentorship, and camaraderie.
“We’ve never had an EOD forum like this with a focus on women’s leadership and mentorship,” explained Master Sgt. Giselle Irr, one of the event organizers. “[In the past] we didn’t have a means to gather all the women together.”
More than 75 service members attended the summit –not just female EOD technicians, but also men and women from across career fields.
Linda Cox, the first woman to graduate from EOD school in 1974, and the first EOD woman to pin on chief master sergeant in 1994, was a central figure in the event. Reflecting on her journey, Cox shared, “I had no idea what EOD was. When I went through, they didn’t even have a uniform for me. Now, we have women running teams and shops.”
Despite the progress, women remain a minority in EOD. In the Air Force, only 38 women serve as EOD technicians out of 1,337 Airmen, making up less than 2% of the career field’s population. Additionally, of the 50 Air Force instructors at the EOD schoolhouse, only two are women.
Chief Master Sgt. Diana Rogers, the second woman EOD Chief and the only one currently serving, spoke about the challenges and progress women have made in EOD.
When Rogers spoke at the summit, she recalled being told, “Women don’t belong in this career field.”
Despite this, she rose through the ranks and now serves as a role model for others.
“I hope to see more ladies rise to leadership positions. I firmly believe the next three female chiefs are sitting in this room today,” Rogers said.
Over the course of the two-day event, the conversations from participants and speakers expressed a determination to continue blowing up barriers and paving the way for future generations.
“When I went through school, they could have just let one woman slip through,” Cox said. “But when [the women after me] came along, they were the proof we belong and maybe we could do this job after all. Now, we’re to the point where we can drop that word maybe, because we are the bomb techs.”
The event culminated in a 5K ruck march, a symbolic gesture honoring the history and resilience of women in the field.