An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 15 PreParinG for anY evenTualiTY one of the course training officers spoke to me about the training and exercises ord Corps personnel go through, and about the most challeng- ing exercise that he had participated in. "As part of the CBRN Device Defeat Module of a previous course, a multiple agency exercise was conducted at Dublin Airport, incorporating the airport police and fire service. "The scenario was that a passenger had been seen acting suspiciously on a flight and that a number of passengers had been taken ill with respiratory dif- ficulties. "We were called in as the CBRN responding team and when we arrived at Dublin Airport the individual who had been acting suspiciously had been taken into custody. We were tasked with clearing the scene, and we set up on the runway apron. "We had a number of three-man entry teams who had to enter the aircraft in Cat 4 Romeo dress and bomb suit. Manoeuvrability in the suit is restrictive and the confined space inside the aircraft made for a tough working environment. "It was also a very public operation as Dublin Airport remained open during the exercise, so there were aircraft operating close by with passengers onboard. "Another challenge was that in the scenario a number of passengers had left the aircraft with their carry-on luggage, all of which had to be screened, extend- ing the area of concern outside the aircraft. "The supposed device used in the at- tack was a homemade hydrogen-cyanide gas generator that included an explo- sive component designed to crack two containers, thereby mixing the chemicals and releasing them as a hazardous gas. However, when he tried to initiate the device during the flight, it had not fully initiated, although some gas had been liberated. Nevertheless, we had to work under the assumption that the whole plane was filled with this noxious gas. "It was a very successful exercise; the training benefits of these types of exercises are staggering and it is for this reason that we carry them out." ing a wide range of topics. EOD is covered in three of the modules: Advanced Conventional Munitions Disposal (which covers disposal of light and heavy weapons like guided weapons, rockets, air-dropped bombs, and even torpedoes); IED De- feat; and finally CBRN Device Defeat. There are six students on the current course, one captain and five lieutenants. Their first exercise, con- ducted after nine months' training, covered intermediate conventional munitions disposal, and when we visited the students they were on their second exercise. This took place during their IED Defeat module and was being held at multiple loca- tions around the Curragh Camp. The exercise would assess the students and give them a chance to put into practice the skills and knowledge they had learned on this module. Arriving at the first of the exer- cise locations, we could see the EOD truck parked up with its robot deployed in the distance, where it was being used to view a device at- tached underneath a car. The student under assessment was busy working out the data that he was getting back from the robot, and using it to figure out if it was a viable device, how it was built, and how it could be defeated. As he in- structed the operator to change the robot's camera angles in order to ob- tain different views of the device, we could hear him methodically talking himself through what he could see: "There's the battery...what way is it connected to the rest of it?...where is the initiator?...maybe a tilt switch..." A detailed analysis of the device was being noted on a whiteboard and from this information a plan would be formed, bearing in mind that the supervising instructor had told the student that it was impor- tant to preserve the device intact if forensics were to gain vital intelli- gence from it. At the second location, the scene was similar, with a robot deployed, only this time the device was inside the vehicle, providing a greater chal- lenge for the student to gain the necessary information. I had already noticed that the crews of each of the EOD teams worked with great speed and ef- ficiency; when something was needed it was produced quickly and put to use to help get the informa- tion required to defeat the device. I asked one of the training officers about how much time it normally takes to defeat a device. He told me, "There is no normal time; it takes as long as it takes. This can be a couple of hours or more than 24 if it's a complicated device. We have had exercises run more than 12 hours without being fully completed." As we left the exercise I had a good feeling, knowing that the professionalism demonstrated by these students will contribute to the safety and security of our troops and civilians at home and overseas for many years to come. The students will undergo many more exercises before they finish their course, and we will hope- fully visit them again as things get ramped up for the final few months of training and the exercises get more challenging. For info about EOD and the Ord Corps, visit www.military.ie. For more about the use of mines and IEDs across the world, see www. care.org and www.halotrust.org.

• Cover