Advanced course on countering the threat of Home-Made Explosives
On 08-12 September 2014 the EOD COE organized another “Homemade Explosives” (HME) class specifically customized to the needs of EOD operators, Explosion Investigators and other responders that could be called upon to respond to a possible HME Lab, or assist in identifying, rendering safe and ultimately disposing of suspected HME.
The course, entitled "Homemade Explosives Course – Advanced", was held again in the Military Training Area Lest (SVK) and was delivered by the EOD COE´s Training Branch and event partners, namely the US Department of Justice Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (National Centre for Explosives Training and Research), Alluviam, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., QinetiQ-NA, Institute of Energetic Materials – University of Pardubice (Faculty of Chemical Technology). Furthermore, Slovak National Centre for EOD and the Czech EOD TIC also contributed substantially to the success of this event by providing highly experienced assistant instructors. Altogether, 16 trainees from 10 NATO countries took this advance-level course.
During this five-day period the students were provided with the knowledge to identify the presence of the HME as well as the precursors and facilities where HME are manufactured. The course included instructions and training on HME characteristics and hazards, recognition of a wide variety of HME precursors, as well as HME manufacturing facilities, HME scene safety and security. The students had an opportunity to utilize a unique hands-on approach to learning that combined classroom instruction, improvised laboratory demonstrations, and site exploitation-based exercises. In addition, trainees had a chance to witness a variety of improvised explosives detonations so that they could experience the amount of energy available in individual materials.
Two HME Advanced courses will be organized again by the EOD COE and event partners in 2015. More information will become available in thewww.eodcoe.org/training section soon.
Author: CPT Petr Tomiczek (CZE-A), HME Advanced Course Leader
Photo: SSG Tomáš Kubík (SVK-A)
