An Cosantóir

16 | rock has been moved revealing fresh soil. "I'm sure you've all heard about 'attacking the network' and 'exploit- ing the scene'," Dean continued. "Well, ground-sign awareness is another tool to compliment these at a force-protec- tion level for troops on the ground." One of the students on the course, C-IED instructor Lt Johnny Dicker, 1 Cav Sqn, described the six characteristics used to identify signs. "Regularity: things that stand out from the norm. Change of colour/texture: when some- one has walked across grass it can ap- pear to have a different colour. Flatten- ing: again, someone walking on grass flattens it. Transfer: an object taken from one environment and left on another. An example of this is would be someone stepping in a puddle and then walking on concrete. Distur- bance: any disturbance that doesn't fit into the above characteristics; such as freshly dug clay. Discardables: things that someone has either deliberately or accidentally dropped; like a ciga- rette packet. "These characteristics tell you a lot. Until I came on this course I would have seen a sign and sim- ply said 'Yes, someone stood there', but now I can see a lot more: everything from the age of the sign, direction of travel, the speed they were moving at, if they were carrying weight. If you notice a boot print turned around every now and then it could indicate a good rear gunner check- ing his six o'clock, but then again it could be an insurgent nervously checking to see if anyone is following him." Lt Dicker is especially apprecia- tive of the relevance of ground- sign awareness as he comes from a cavalry background where small teams may be carrying out an ISTAR (intelligence, surveillance, target-acquisition and reconnais- sance) role, operating out of hides and OPs. "Before this, I never really thought of what signs I could be leaving when working out of a hide," he said. "This is something I will be recommending we look at in my parent unit. It is so simple and so effective." The basic ground-sign aware- ness course lasts three days and is geared for the average soldier going about his daily job, whether that is on patrol overseas, or driving on escort duties at home. "If we can teach him the basic signs so that he can then spot something that is out of place and say 'Stop, that doesn't look right!'," Dean Williams ex- plained, "that is saving lives. It has proven extremely effective with troops in Afghanistan." A boot print is obvious to any- one, but when Dean showed us the impression made by a bat- tery pack or an uncoiled com- mand wire you think to yourself 'I'll remember what that looks like'. These are low-level tactics that a soldier on patrol can use. It's much safer to call in a specialist search-and-clearance team than to walk over an area where there are unfamiliar footprints, removed soil or flat- tened grass. An Cosantóir September 2012 www.dfmagazine.ie

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