EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE - The use of homemade bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan has created a huge demand for bomb disposal technicians.

They're trained at Eglin Air Force Base, at the Navy's Explosive Ordinance Disposal or EOD school.

Laura Hussey brings us a rare look inside in a Channel Three News Special report.

Captain Adam Guziewicz "Our job is to save life and property, and our men and women are the ones that do that go downrange and make the choice to walk down on an IED."

Captain Adam Guziewicz commands the naval explosive ordnance disposal school at Eglin Air Force Base.

Capt. Guziewicz "It's a great amount of responsibility. You know when I walk in or come in in the morning, I look off to the left and there's an EOD memorial staring at me or looking at me. It's a great motivator."

Here, students from every military service learn to disarm deadly explosive devices. But 36 percent won't even make it to graduation.

Chief Vincent Demakas "We can't put them in a bomb suit and have them stand over a live IED, and there's really no comparison to that except the real deal. So we put them in a stressful environment here to make sure they can withstand the rigors of combat."

Part of the first phase of EOD school is basic demolition skills. This will come into play later when an explosive device is located. They may want to do what they call blowing it in place. So the students in this bunker behind me have already placed explosive materials downrange, they'll be detonated in just a moment.

"Fire in the hole, fire in the hole, fire in the hole!"

These blasts contained about a pound of explosive material. Instructor Vincent Demakas says that's just a fraction of what students could face in combat.

Chief Vincent Demakas "The IEDs that we're going up or IEDs that we're going up against in country can be anywhere from 2 or 3 pounds of explosives, all the way up into the hundreds of pounds."

Even in a seventy-pound bomb suit, an EOD tech is at risk.

So working with robots has become an integral part of the training.

Cameras provide a closer look at the threat.

In some cases, robots also help to render the device harmless.

"Alright, today's job, we're just going to be going down and doing a little bottom search"

For Navy EOD students, the training period is over a year long.

After seven months with the other services, they enter an underwater phase.

Captain Guziewicz "When our enemies choose to mine the waterways through the Persian Gulf perhaps or some other strait, our Navy forces would be called in there to sweep and clear those mines."

They learn to work with specialized breathing equipment and to slip silently off the side of a boat.

Seaman Matt Heber "You train, you train, you train, you train, to where it becomes almost second nature. And your training is what keeps you alive, your training is what keeps you calm."

Seaman Matt Heber and his classmates will see combat within a year of graduation.

One of their leaders says that day can't come soon enough.

Lt. Jeff Lavery "They're chomping at the bit to get over there."

Lt. Lavery "They don't just want to sit back and watch it from a television screen. They want to get in the fight."

In 2004, 650 people each year were trained at the EOD school.

This year, over 1800 will graduate.More Demand On Navy EOD School