BROOKINGS When the Brookings High School class of 2020 graduated in May, COVID-19 would impact their lives. Eleanor Ellie Abraham left for Annapolis, Maryland, to join about 1,200 young men and women in what would be the COVID class. A noted athlete (track and cross-country), musician and vocalist, she had been nominated by South Dakotas U.S. Congressman Dusty Johnson with the option of attending the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, or the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.
She chose to be a midshipman. In May 2024, she was commissioned an ensign in the U.S. Navy. One mission was accomplished; another began.
The newly minted butter bar spent summer 2024 working at the Naval Academy. In October she reported to the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center in Panama City Beach, Florida, for the Joint Diving Officer Course, described on its website as a 26-week training program that teaches officers from the U.S. Navy, Army and Coast Guard how to perform as divers and dive team members.
Relative to the Navy, Abraham explained, Its for people in the explosive ordnance-disposal pipeline or engineering duty officer-pipeline, which are two very different communities of the Navy. But they both have to know how to dive as officers. Shes in the former, which is ultimately more demanding than the latter but neither pipeline is a cakewalk.
From her academy graduating class of just more than 1,000 midshipmen, five or six chose the engineering officer track, eight or nine chose the EOD track. Candidates in both communities will be certified diving supervisors and qualified to oversee scuba diving and decompression chambers.
Now more tough training follows: the Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal School (Naval Education and Training Center) at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Abraham explained that this school is joint, it has (in addition to Navy) Marines, Air Force and Army. For Navy candidates, the school is three months longer because of training in underwater EOD.
Note that prior to opting for the Naval Academy which in the long haul has placed her on a path to one of the most demanding careers in the United States Armed Forces Abraham could have selected West Point or the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
I applied to all three (academies), she explained. I was recruited by the cross-country track coaches of all three. I got into West Point and the Naval Academy.
Why go Navy?
I believe in its training program more. It seemed more personable, too, Abraham said. I like that the Naval Academy is in the heart of Annapolis. You can walk out the gate and youre in town. At West Point, youre so far away from anything. Its very, very remote. I just liked the complete change of Annapolis. Id never been in a coastal area; Id never seen anything like that. And most of all, it was the career opportunities.
There are so many different things you can do in the Navy. You can do anything from undersea, on the sea, on land. Theres the whole Marine Corps side. Basically anything the Army can do, you can do in the Navy and Marine Corps, but just better. And the whole aviation side. I wasnt interested in that. At West Point, if you want to do any special warfare options you have to be in the infantry first for a number of years. At the Naval Academy you can go straight into those communities. That was appealing to me as well.
As to academics, Abraham majored in history. We do a whole skew of different courses: Were required to take regional, which is any country outside of the U.S. and Europe; thematic American history, European history and military history, courses in all five of those areas.
Add to the demands of their major focus, all midshipmen are required to take a ton of core courses. Most of them were math and science, but some of the required liberal arts were two semesters of English, two semesters of history: one was pre-modern history and one was modern history of the West. Now one-third of every graduating class is the humanities majors: English, history, political science. All the members of each graduating class are awarded bachelor of science degrees.
An argument could be made that becoming a member of the EOD community sets one apart as the best of the best, a small community where each member officer or enlisted knows most of the other members.
I guess the appeal is how small it is, Abraham said. Almost everyone knows each other. I really appreciated the closeness of it; when I was selected, we had a dinner with a bunch of leaders throughout the community, enlisted and officers. And the head admiral of EOD, we call him the master blaster, shook my hand and welcomed me to the community. He knew each of us by name: there were only 16 EOD candidates in my Naval Academy class of about 1,020 people. Abraham is one of two women in her graduating class who made that cut.
Hiking, biking, running, swimming
I have always loved a physical challenge, Abraham explained. Thats why I chose to run cross-country and track, just always loved working out and a bunch of different varieties, whether its hiking, rock climbing, biking, swimming, running, lifting weights, I just love to do it all.
Meeting those physical challenges served the ensign well early on in her pursuit of joining the EOD community. Abraham found the first three weeks of dive school to be the most difficult: Theyre testing the candidates to make sure you want to be there, weed them out if theyre not prepared for diving. Those were the hardest workouts on land and in the pool, a lot of treading (water) with weights, swimming with or without fins, underwater swimming in full fatigues, with dive booties on your feet.
Add to those physical demands hands-on learning of such skills as underwater welding and cutting metal and the workings of a recompression chamber.
And I love the intellectual side of it, too, she explained. EOD, you have to learn circuits and electrical engineering for your IEDs (improvised explosive devices); you get to learn nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Theres a lot of problem solving, thinking and reacting on the fly. I really like that part of it, too.
And most of it all, probably the number one reason is I just wanted the most direct way to save lives.
Uncle Sam gets payback
All these educational and training opportunities at the military academies are paid for with government dollars. The cadets and midshipmen receiving these benefits have an obligatory payback to their services: for Abraham, it is four years of active duty after she earns her EOD badge. When her payback is done the combination of education, training and active duty she will have dedicated 10 years to the Navy.
For now Abraham is looking at leaving the Navy after completing her obligated service. I dont think I want to stay for a whole career, unless I really love it, she explained. My fianc is a naval aviation student, so hes going to be a Navy pilot and its pretty hard to spend time together when youre both in the military. I dont really want to only see him a couple times a year for 20 years. That would be pretty bad.
Ill do my commitment. Ill see where Im at. If were co-located and were able to sign on for another three-year tour where we can live under the same roof and see each other most days and I feel a lot of satisfaction from my job and I feel needed in the military, then Ill stay on for another tour.
Contact John Kubal at [email protected].
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