In Iraq, the life you save ..., Embassy staff receive special training

[Rose Siding]

snip>
Lewis, a communications specialist, has volunteered for Iraq, the world's most dangerous foreign assignment for federal workers, contractors and diplomats. Like every employee assigned to the massive U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, she was required to take an eight-day course on the uniquely treacherous and unpredictable conditions in Iraq.

Baghdad is the only overseas assignment that requires civilians to undergo special training with the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security. The Diplomatic Security Anti-Terrorism Course — DSAC-Iraq to Baghdad veterans — is part Outward Bound and part James Bond.

Survival skills

Embassy workers are taught to detect spies, evade surveillance and staunch a sucking chest wound with plastic to stop air from flowing through it. They're exposed to small homemade bombs on a firing range, flinching and covering their ears behind a protective barrier. Then they study how roadside bombs are constructed in Iraq.

The civilians are taught how to behave if taken hostage (don't panic) and are told what to do if confronted by kidnappers (move). They learn what to do if their convoy is ambushed (get out of the "kill zone" — the area targeted by attackers), what to use to control bleeding (duct tape, necktie, sock) and what to do before leaving for Iraq (make a will)......

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002425451_secure07.html