The name of an explosive-ordnance-disposal expert killed in Afghanistan will live on at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C.

The 20th Civil Engineer Squadron renamed its EOD compound after Tech Sgt. Adam Ginett during a May 20 ceremony attended by family, friends and former colleagues.

Ginett, 29, an EOD airman assigned to 31st CES at Aviano Air Base, Italy, died Jan. 19, 2010, when a remote-controlled explosive device detonated during a foot patrol out of Kandahar Air Field. Army Capt. Paul Pena, 27, of San Marcos, Texas, a member of the 2nd Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, was also killed.

Ginett’s mother, Christina Kazakavage, said her son — a Knightdale, N.C., native who served with 20th CES from 2004-07 — died doing what he loved.

“I couldn’t be more proud of what he did and what he accomplished,” she said in an Air Force statement. “He left a legacy … I just want people to know that he didn’t take his job lightly.”

Ginett was the fifth Aviano-based servicemember to die downrange since the terrorist attacks in the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001. He was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star with valor and a Purple Heart.

An annual golf tournament at Aviano founded in Ginett’s name raised more than $12,000 last year for the EOD Warrior Foundation, which “honors fallen EOD warriors and provides assistance to wounded EOD warriors and the families of wounded and fallen EOD personnel,” the foundation’s website says.

“Adam’s death was a tragic loss to the EOD community,” Col. Stephen Jost, 20th Fighter Wing commander, said at the ceremony. “But we take heart in his ultimate sacrifice, and we know that through his memory and the EOD training complex lives will be saved by the EOD technicians just like him.”

kidd.aaron@stripes.comTwitter: @kiddaaron

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