British and U.S. soldiers train Afghan military troops in Improvised Explosive Device IED detection

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United Kingdom British Army News

 
 
 
Thursday, July 14, 2011, 06:01 PM
 
British and U.S. soldiers train Afghan military troops in Improvised Explosive Device IED detection.
 
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) instructors are teaching members of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) the fundamentals of identifying and countering improvised explosive devices on a new course at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand province.
     
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) instructors are teaching members of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) the fundamentals of identifying and countering improvised explosive devices on a new course at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand province.
Counter-improvised explosive device instructor Lance Corporal Gaz Selby, from Barnsley, demonstrates basic victim-activated improvised explosive devices to Afghan National Security Forces trainees at Camp Leatherneck, Helmand province
[Picture: Petty Officer 1st Class Gino Flores, US Navy/ISAF 2011]

     
The Explosive Hazard Reduction (EHR) course at Joint Sustainment Academy Southwest (JSAS), based at Camp Leatherneck, the US Marines camp adjacent to Camp Bastion, prepares members of the Afghan National Army (ANA), uniformed police and border police to operate in a partnership role with coalition forces when IEDs are encountered. It also teaches the basics of insurgent IED tactics and how to handle and eliminate unexploded ordnance and munitions.

On the course, students learn to locate, identify and disarm victim-operated IEDs, such as pressure plate and trip wire devices.

Another of the course's aims is to teach ANSF personnel to perform searches alongside coalition units:

"We teach them how to spot the IEDs, place a charge next to it, and then how to blow them up," said US Senior Chief Petty Officer Ronald Ameika, an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) technician and instructor at JSAS.

     
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) instructors are teaching members of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) the fundamentals of identifying and countering improvised explosive devices on a new course at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand province.
Senior Chief Petty Officer Ronald Ameika, an explosive ordnance disposal technician, points out a model of an Afghan village used to instruct Afghan National Security Forces trainees on vulnerable points for improvised explosive device placement
[Picture: Petty Officer 1st Class Gino Flores, US Navy/ISAF 2011]
     
Course trainees are constantly reminded to multitask, listening for the audible alarm from the Vallon metal detector while always scanning the surface of the earth in front of them for signs of planted IEDs:

"Students need to be well-rounded and familiar with all field equipment, explosives and techniques used," said Senior CPO Ameika.

"Countering IEDs and dealing with these devices is a process that goes through stages," said Lance Corporal Paul Dwayne of the Royal Engineers, an instructor on the EHR course at JSAS.

"At the [moment] we concentrate on getting [students] the very basics so that they can work with a mentor over a period of time, getting up to scratch, to the level we want them at, so we can go out in small teams and carry out the drills," added LCpl Dwayne.

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