Their Story
Remembering Jason Christopher Finan.
Chief Petty Officer Jason C. Finan, 34, of Anaheim, California, was a master explosive ordnance disposal technician with Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit Three in Coronado, California.
Jason joined the Navy in 2003 and served aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan from 2004 to 2006. He was then selected to become an explosive ordnance disposal technician, attending dive school and a year of training at the Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.
He spent his entire career as an EOD technician with Mobile Unit Three, and earned his diver, parachutist, expeditionary warfare and surface warfare qualifications. An Iraq veteran, he was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for his service in combat and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal twice.
In October 2016, Jason was serving as an advisor to Kurdish peshmerga forces in the offensive to retake Mosul. On October 20, 2016, near the town of Bashiq, about 10 miles north of Mosul, his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device. He died of his wounds at the military hospital in Irbil.