Photo By Cpl. Adam Montera | Multinational U.N. Peacekeepers clear a house as part of a field training exercise on...... read more read more
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BANGLADESH (March 11, 2018) – The final field training event for the Counter IED and EOD training at Exercise Shanti Doot 4 ended the morning of 11 March at the Ordnance Centre and School, Rajendrapur Cantonment, Bangladesh. Shanti Doot 4 is an international United Nations peacekeeping training exercise with over 1,000 participants from more than 30 countries, designed to provide pre-deployment training to partner nations in preparation for real-world peacekeeping operations.
The two-day final field training event covered counter IED and EOD training during foot patrols and when mounted in convoys. This event followed approximately two weeks of classes for the trainees under the tutelage of a group of international subject matter experts.
“Working in an international setting is always good,” said a Canadian EOD operator who was in charge of the multinational team. “The information shared by chatting about the differences or nuances of each country’s tactics, techniques and procedures is always enlightening, and shared experiences most often come up. Hence a tight bond is formed between EOD teams who work in this dangerous field.”
The group of international instructors from Canada, Australia and America taught day-long courses to international training platoons as well as the two week long specialized EOD course to a group of Bangladesh, Sri Lankan, Cambodian and Nepalese service members. The main goal of these training sessions was to help peacekeepers understand basic principles of dealing with explosives. We wanted them to learn that, if something looks like it is an IED or unexploded ordinance, to clear the area, cordon it off, call in EOD experts and control the scene, said the Canadian EOD operator. Training soldiers to be able to understand what an IED looks like or indicators such as ground signs is quite beneficial. This knowledge will help keep them alive on the battlefield or give them a better understanding of the threats being employed against them. He went on to say that dealing with these threats is something that is very important for military personnel and peacekeeping personnel to understand.
Other instructors also stressed the importance of this type of training.
“The IED threat is a prevailing issue around the world. U.N. service members are being attacked by them now,” said Air Force National Guard TSgt. Mathew Volker, an EOD technician with the Oregon Air National Guard. Most recently, Bangladesh lost four of their men in an IED strike on a U.N. convoy in Mali February 28.”
Volker is one of the instructors in charge of the single day training sessions and has dealt with troops from multiple nations. He also talked about the benefits of sharing experiences instructors from other countries and also noted that sometimes the students had something to offer as well. For example, one of his students from Cambodia had years of experience dealing with demining and helped bring the lessons Volker was teaching to the other students to life.
All the instructors involved hope they instilled some basic, albeit important skills and lessons for all the troops they had the opportunity to deal with. For experts like themselves it was sometimes difficult to condense the subject matter down into two weeks or even a days’ worth of classroom time but they felt like they were able to get across the most important goals for their respective classes. They dealt with different students from multiple countries and varying levels of experience. Whether it was an introductory single day class or the more in-depth class, all the instructors agreed that multinational training like this for U.N. peacekeepers is crucial for saving lives and furthering peacekeeping capabilities in future operations.
| Date Taken: | 03.12.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 03.12.2018 06:08 |
| Story ID: | 268965 |
| Location: | BD |
| Web Views: | 213 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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