How to Defuse a Bomb

The point man swings his mine detector and listens for the high-pitched alarm before taking a step.

He carries on:

I’ve come to Helmand to try to understand why anyone would want to become a bomb hunter. I want to get inside their heads, learn about their fears and concerns, the unimaginable stresses they face every day and what drives them on knowing that one mistake, one single slip, can mean death. For three weeks I will be an embedded journalist working alongside both the bomb-hunting teams of the CIED Task Force and the Grenadier Guards battlegroup.

The whine is loud and the meter reading indicates a significant metal device in the ground. The soldier knows instinctively that just half a metre in front of him was an IED. Speaking nervously into his personal role radio, he says, ‘I’ve got a strong signal – I’m going to confirm.’

Although the sniper is guaranteed to generate fear, in Helmand the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) remains the soldiers’ worst nightmare. Soldiers are taught how to search, confirm and recognise buried IEDs using Vallons – mine detectors. A step in the wrong direction, a momentary lapse of concentration, can mean mutilation, the loss of one or more limbs, or death. Lose a leg and you have just four and a half minutes for a medic to staunch the wound before you fatally ‘bleed out’. The time decreases with each additional limb lost. No quadruple amputee has yet survived. A front-line soldier stands a one-in-ten chance of being killed or injured, and for the Taliban there was no greater prize than killing a member of a bomb-disposal team.

I’m strapped to the seat of a Warrior armoured personnel carrier with the team of Staff Sergeant Gareth ‘Woody’ Wood. Woody is 28, with close-cropped hair which is beginning to recede at the temples. He is about 5 ft 8 in. tall and does not have an ounce of fat on his small, wiry frame. He is blessed with a naturally happy face and a slight gap between his front teeth which adds a hint of mischievousness to his otherwise wholly sensible personality. Woody spent almost eight years learning how to be a bomb hunter, longer than a vet or a doctor’s training, and if he is to survive his six months in Afghan he will need both skill and luck.

Most of the loose equipment has been tied to the vehicle’s floor or sides in an attempt to reduce injuries in the event of an IED strike. The force of the blast can be so great that heavy items like batteries can fly around the cramped interior at lethal speeds. It is for the same reason that we are all strapped in as well. ‘Right, lads, listen in,’ says Corporal Andy Hurran, the search team commander. ‘The device is about 150 metres up the road. A local said there were at least three IEDs on the road. They did a clearance and got a loud tone just up the road from here. The first thing we are going to do is an isolation. Bradley’ – Andy looks directly at Sapper Bradley Knight – ‘you happy with everything? Vallon working correctly, kit sorted, happy to go?’ Bradley nods but his apprehension is clear for everyone to see. No one comments, probably because they all share the same fears. ‘Right, good. We’re moving off in two minutes. You all know the order of march. It’s our first job, so everyone take it easy, take your time, stay switched on.’

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