Kenneth Normand

Kenneth Normand retired from the U.S. Navy in 2010 after 22 years of service as a Master Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technician. He served at a wide variety of assignments including overseas mobile units and emergency response shore detachments in the Philippines, Guam, and Panama City, Florida. His initial tours of duty included diving, demolition, explosive research and development, parachuting and emergency response to WWII unexploded U.S. and Japanese ordnance during assignments in the Western Pacific. He served as Air Operations Officer and Readiness and Training Leading Chief where he was responsible for all facets of parachuting and air mobility operations at EOD Mobile Unit Five. He has completed combat deployments in both Operations Desert Storm and Enduring Freedom where he was a member of the Combined Explosive Exploitation Cell (CEXC) providing weapons technical intelligence capability while executing a deliberate theater-wide counter-IED campaign against anti-coalition militia, al-Qaeda and Taliban forces. He collected and exploited technical intelligence and forensic evidence from hundreds of IED incidents.

His personal decorations include the Bronze Star and the Combat Action Ribbon. Mr. Normand holds an Associate of Arts in Weapons of Mass Destruction Preparedness and a Bachelor of Arts in Homeland Security from American Military University. Mr. Normand is also a Master Training Specialist, High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) Freefall Jumpmaster, Static-line Jumpmaster, Helicopter Rope Suspension Training (HRST) Master Instructor, Special Operations Parachute Rigger, Demolition and Burn Operations Supervisor, SCUBA and Mixed Gas Diving Supervisor and is qualified as an Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist. He has extensive experience with homemade explosives (HME) and has attended the most demanding HME courses available at our national laboratories. Ken’s final assignment on active duty was lead instructor for IED training at the joint service Naval School of Explosive Ordnance Disposal where he instructed all prospective EOD technicians in basic skills required to safely defeat the enemy’s use of IEDs. He is also a graduate student in Homeland Security.