Bomb Disposal Aces 'Face Extreme Fatigue' 

A former bomb disposal expert has told Sky News of the extreme pressures facing specialists clearing explosives in Afghanistan.

 

Chris Hunter was speaking as an inquest got under way into the death of George Cross-winning hero Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid.

The Ministry of Defence say S/Sgt Schmid is one of seven British bomb disposal to have been killed in Afghanistan since operations began there in 2001.

A total of 137 personnel lost their lives to blasts from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the country during 2009 and 2010.

And Mr Hunter said there was some debate as to how to counter the increasing sophistication of insurgent's bombs.

It's the 'long walk', or the 'lonely walk', the moment at which the drawbridge goes up behind you, the visor comes up and you're on your own. Physiologically, it's extremely exhausting.

Former bomb disposal expert Chris Hunter

"At the moment, there is a significant emphasis on the detection and neutralization of IEDs," he said.

"If you use the analogy 'shoot the archer, don't shoot the arrow', there are so many arrows coming forward, thousands of IEDs.

"The idea is that there are only a finite number of people with the requisite skill sets to manufacture these bombs at this level of sophistication.

"Therefore, if you can look left of the boom, try and find the bomb-makers and disrupt that bomb-maker, then you go a long way to actually defeating the insurgency."

He said there was a compelling argument for blowing up devices where they are placed, but analysis of defused bombs helped to prevent future casualties.

And Mr Hunter, whose 18 years as an Ammunition Technical Officer included stints in Afghanistan and Iraq, insisted the psychological aspect of the job was taken seriously by the MoD.

"There is very stringent psychometric testing and psychiatric evaluation before operators are even allowed to begin training," he said.

"The MoD does that very, very well. They used to spend an average of about six years preparing a high-threat operator before he is deployed to a high-threat theater like Afghanistan.

"Now they're speeding up the process, but actually they've not dropped their standards in any way.

Captain Wayne Owers is among the British Army's 

top bomb disposal experts

"They've doubled the number of operators in theatre, which of course reduces the number of devices operators need to deal with and reduces the fatigue."

He said the stresses of the job were unavoidable.

"Of course, there's still a number of pressures on the operator when he or she is going up to that bomb," he said.

"It's the 'long walk', or the 'lonely walk', the moment at which the drawbridge goes up behind you, the visor comes up and you're on your own. Physiologically, it's extremely exhausting.

"You can be carrying up to 200lbs of equipment, you can be operating in 50C, in the midday sun, and over and above that there's this extreme psychological game.

"It's like a game of extreme chess.

"You're literally pitting your wits against the bomb-maker. You're trying to get into his mind and work out, is that device designed to target military, law enforcement or civilians?

"Or is it designed specifically to lure me in as an operator, so I can be killed by some secondary form of attack?"

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