There's a scene in 'Danger UXB' where the main character renders safe a bomb stuck in the side of a burning building at the request of the firefighters on scene. He did a recon and using his crude form of pubs (handwritten notes from the last guy who died) he determined the fuse was safe. He may or may not have removed it from the wall by kicking it down. Upon returning to the shop the EOD TL was scolded by his commander for his rebellious actions. I am not here to argue about the character's TTPs and whether he was right or wrong. Instead, the scene in question shows me that EOD techs have been using this unique mixture of independence and rebellion to act on their moral compass instead of SOP since the inception of the career field. At least, I like to think so.
It's one of my favorite things about a good EOD tech. This unique mixture of intelligence, knowledge, confidence, and balls that I call the light switch.
On one end of the switch is professionalism. The yes-sirs, the volunteering for tasks, and always ensuring that mk 2 dearmer is clean as a whistle. This is the end of the switch that can recruit confidence from on-scene commanders or battle space owners. This is the characteristic that enables an EOD E-4 to have the ability to brief a room full of colonels and majors about any number of topics. The professionalism side is necessary in our career field. It's what gets the most attention. That meme of the dude walking with his girlfriend and looking at another chick? The professional switch is the other chick. Your uptight commander whose only hobby is putting meat over hot coals for an extended period loves the professional. The professional gets rewarded with promotions, desirable schools, and those ever-elusive VIPs in exotic locations. There's only one problem with the professional. The professional can't do it alone. The yin needs the yang.
Then there's the other side of the switch—the wild one. You know the wild one. Hopefully, the wild one is still somewhere alive in you. The wild one throws everyone's bike on the roof of the barracks in Moron, Spain. The wild one uses a terrorist's arm to wave goodbye to the infantry guys who pulled security for him on the post-blast. Brash, funny, loud, overly confident; not everyone is a fan. Leadership is usually not a fan. Other than winning a bomb suit wrestling match against the Charlie from the partner ODA, why in the fuck would anyone need the wild one?
Well, the wild one comes to life when shit hits the fan. A real "break glass in case of emergency" type of dude. The wild one will look at a scene of absolute chaos (like a VBIED in the middle of a large city) and say, "Everyone, follow me; I got this." That motherfucker will actually have it too. The wild one will suddenly realize he is in the middle of 13 land mines and resort to the old "fuck it, we'll do it live" mentality. The hardest part about dealing with the wild ones is getting them to keep that animal caged until just the right time.
Look, I am definitely not trying to convince you to fornicate with a matador stripper simply for the sake of awakening that inner wild one. All I'm saying is, if you have it in you, don't run from it. Learn the switch. Most older EOD techs will tell you firsthand; if they fucked up, it's usually because they had their switch flipped the wrong way. Either they were too timid when they needed the wild one, or they were too wild when they needed the professional.
The thing I AM trying to convince you of is don't ever let anyone take away the wild ones. Don't let some instructor tell you that being a wild man is bad. Don't let your leadership convince you to stop being a cowboy. Just learn to hide your wild from the people who don't want to see it. We need the wild ones. It would suck if we went to break the glass one day and no one was waiting behind it.
-T