by Billy P. Martin, Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal Public Affairs
Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician 1st Class Brian Oberley, was recognized for improving the tactics, techniques, and procedures used by Special Forces Operational Detachment. Alpha to fit a highly dynamic operational environment from June to December 2017.
For Oberley, the occasion was also a recognition of a family legacy. His father, retired Master Chief Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician Patrick Oberley, also of Panama City, attended the ceremony, and he, too, is a recipient of the Bronze Star Medal for heroic achievement during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, where he was involved in extensive mine countermeasures operations in the northern Arabian Gulf.
“When Brian was young, I could have never dreamed that he and I would share the greatest job in the world’s finest Navy, but today we also share a much smaller brotherhood,” said Patrick Oberley, who worked to instill the Navy’s core values and the fundamentals of the Navy EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) Ethos as he raised his son. “Watching him while he received the Bronze Star brought a sense of pride, I’m sure only a few fathers have ever felt. He is more of a warrior than I had ever hoped to be.”
Brian Oberley supported 65 combat patrols with advance preparation and in-depth knowledge of enemy improvised explosive devices, resulting in 222 enemy positions destroyed and the disposal of 900 pounds of unexploded ordnance. His explosive hazard clearance expertise was critical to Special Operations Forces ground maneuver in establishing friendly fighting positions.
Oberley led an operation to sample, package and dispose of six improvised chemical ordnance items posing a grave threat to U.S. forces, coalition partners, and the local populace.”Receiving the Bronze Star Medal today meant the world to me,” said Brian Oberley. “Not only is it a highly respected award, but the fact that I grew up listening to the story of how my father, a fellow Navy EOD tech, received his, I knew I wanted to be an EOD tech and hopefully earn the same medal in a similar fashion. This Bronze Star puts me at the same level as my father, and I couldn’t imagine a better club to join than this one, with my dad.”
Most significant among his father’s many EOD mine countermeasures missions during Operation Desert Storm were his courageous dives against mines in one of Iraq’s most dangerous and challenging minefields.
Brian Oberley graduated from Kentucky Wesleyan College in 2009. He is currently the leading petty officer for Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal’s (NAVSCOLEOD) training department. During his tour, he will serve as an instructor, applying his past experiences and expertise to prepare EOD technicians to locate, identify, render safe, and explosively dispose of foreign and domestic ordnance, including conventional, chemical, biological, nuclear, underwater, and terrorist-type devices.
NAVSCOLEOD, located on Eglin Air Force Base, provides high-risk, specialized, basic and advanced EOD training to U.S. and partner nation military and selected U.S. government personnel each year.
