The director of expeditionary warfare (OPNAV N95) visited Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) 8 at Naval Station Rota, Spain, Aug. 2.

The trip marked Maj. Gen. David Coffman’s first visit to expeditionary forces in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations.

He began the visit by presenting the Bronze Star Medal to Senior Chief Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician Joseph L. Maloney for combat operations while deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals to Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Zachary Brown, a dive medical technician, and Builder 2nd Class Robert Harris.

After the awards presentation, Coffman addressed the entire command on its the strategic importance,  emphasizing the many ways EODMU 8 helps support the Navy’s greater overseas mission.

Shortly following the discussion, Coffman toured the command’s facilities and left with a deeper understanding of the day-to-day life at the unit.

“Maj. Gen. Coffman highlighted the important work our Sailors do in this theater,” said Cmdr. Jeff DeMarco, commanding officer of EODMU 8. “He reiterated the value in being forward-deployed and able to build and sustain strategic relationships with our partners here. Our Sailors know their work is important, but it was great for them to hear that from Maj. Gen. Coffman.”

As N95, Coffman serves as the sole Marine general officer on the chief of naval operations staff, where he provides oversight of CNO staff responsibilities pertaining to amphibious lift, mine warfare, naval fire support, and other missions essential to expeditionary warfare, and leads the planning, programming and budgeting for acquisition, operational readiness, and modernization of the Navy’s broad portfolio of expeditionary warfare capabilities. This visit allowed him to see the full product of his resourcing efforts in action.

Homeported in Rota, EODMU 8 provides operational explosive ordnance disposal capability as required for the location, identification, rendering safe, recovery, field evaluation and disposal of all explosive ordnance, including chemical and nuclear weapons, and supports maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations.

U.S. Navy EOD is the world's premier combat force for countering explosive hazards and conducting expeditionary diving and salvage operations for the location, identification, rendering safe, recovery, field evaluation and disposal of all explosive ordnance, including chemical and nuclear weapons.

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