An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir October 2018 www.dfmagazine.ie 16 | BY CPL LEE COYLE PHOTOS BY ARMN JAMIE BARRETT C onducting exercises that are realistic and challenging is an important part of training in the DF. These exercises can range from ordinary green-on-green, wartime scenarios, to complex, multi-faceted scenarios involving multiple agencies and multiple threats. To come up with new, challenging exercise scenarios the DF has looked to real incidents that have happened at home and abroad, and threats faced by militaries and other government agencies in recent times. As a result, an exercise involving the current Ordnance Young Officer and DFTC Potential NCOs courses took place in May of this year with the aim of putting both courses through their paces in an extremist attack scenario. Stage one of this joint exercise began with a brief on the exercise scenario, which was that the An Garda Síochána (GS) had asked for assistance in securing a quarry close to the Curragh Camp after receiving 'intel' that criminal activity was taking place in the vicinity. The intelligence had suggested a possible bomb- making factory, so the GS had also requested that a DF EOD team would be on standby. The Pot NCO course was the first DF element to be deployed on scene and was tasked with setting up OPs around the quarry to watch for any activity. The personnel manning the OPs soon observed suspicious activity that was consistent with the intel- ligence the GS had received. The next part of the exercise scenario consisted of setting up a cordon and snatch inside the quarry. However, as the snatch troops entered the quarry they found the suspect had managed to slip through the net (as per the scenario). Now in control of the quarry, it quickly became apparent to the Pot NCOs that the location might be being used for some type of terrorist activity, with chemical bottles being found along with a suspicious suitcase. With the possible threat posed by unknown chemicals and the suitcase, the EOD team was called in. On their arrival the team received a quick brief on what had been found and immediately deployed a HOBO bomb disposal robot to inspect the find and gather more details in order to quickly come up with a plan to deal with the threat. The HOBO was equipped with a variety of CBRN detectors that were in view of one of its on-board cameras so that the scene could be checked remotely for hazardous fumes or chemicals without having to put any of the team in danger. With nothing showing up on the detectors, the suitcase was the team's next target of interest. Using HOBO again they ma- nipulated the suitcase and were able to open it. Inside the case they found a respirator and chemicals used for the manufacture of crude explosives, along with other bomb-making materials. With the initial threat nullified, one of the EOD officers went forward in full-protection bomb suit to conduct a final inspection of the contents. This inspection found materials capable of mak- ing a 'dirty bomb' and also a worrying amount of details regard- ing a local shopping centre, including a site plan of the buildings with locations marked and timings noted. The suitcase and other materials were then secured so that EOD YOs and NCOs courses put through their paces

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