EOD Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit One Patch

Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit One has been one of the Pacific Fleet's EOD commands since the 1971 restructuring of EOD Group One. EODMU-1 is the unit that goes toward the thing everyone else is backing away from. Its job, in the Navy's own terms, is to find, identify, render safe, recover, field evaluate and dispose of explosive ordnance anywhere in the world. That list includes chemical and nuclear weapons. The unit held its 2015 change of command at Point Loma in San Diego, and its teams deploy wherever the fleet needs them.

In 1971 EOD Group One was reorganized with three subordinate commands: EOD Mobile Unit One, EOD Shipboard Unit One and EOD Training and Evaluation Unit One. The group is the Pacific Fleet's explosive ordnance disposal organization, and its mission covers mine countermeasures, port security and the fleet's marine mammal systems. EODMU-1 is the deployable piece of that organization, the unit whose teams go out with the fleet. Its ordnance work runs from conventional bombs and mines to chemical and nuclear weapons. In 2015 Commander Jeremy F. Thompson took command from Commander Robert R. Porter III at Point Loma.

The patch is a 4.5 by 4 inch circle crossed by a ribbon banner, with a cut edge that follows the outline. EXPLOSIVE ORDNANCE DISPOSAL arcs across the top in black on medium blue, and MOBILE UNIT ONE runs along the bottom, with U.S. and NAVY on the two ends of the banner. In the center an American flag fills the background behind a globe. A gray bomb stands point down carrying a red numeral 1, with crossed lightning bolts behind it and a gold fouled anchor whose line wraps around the whole device. Bomb and lightning bolts are the mark every EOD tech knows, and the anchor and the number tie it to this unit and this Navy.

EOD is a small community, and the people in it tend to know each other by name. Everyone wearing the bomb earned a place in it through long training. The work asks for calm hands and careful minds, every time, and it is done close enough to touch. Mine countermeasures and port security for the Pacific Fleet are part of the same job. This patch is for that community and the families who waited for the phone call that said everyone was coming home.

It fits a shadow box next to a set of EOD qualification wings and a platoon photo, or a range bag carried by a tech who still works with his hands. It is also a good gift for a parent whose son or daughter just reported to a mobile unit in San Diego. Stitch it down once and it stays. Bomb, bolts, anchor and a big red 1.