Navy training Iraqis in bomb disposal techniques

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Navy training Iraqis in bomb disposal techniques
By Heath Druzin, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, February 8, 2009

BAQOUBA, Iraq — A collection of red metal shipping containers at Forward Operating Base Warhorse is littered with wires, rockets and land mines. Iraqi soldiers gingerly open the containers’ plywood doors and peek under carpets inside, searching for anything suspicious.

The soldiers are from the 5th Engineers Bomb Disposal Company, the equivalent of U.S. explosive ordnance disposal teams that scour the roads for bombs and respond when soldiers happen upon explosives.

The course is designed to teach the Iraqis how to find and disarm explosives. It’s hands-on experience in a field that offers few second chances in the real world.

Such training is especially relevant in Diyala province, where booby-trapped houses and roadside bombs are a persistent problem — especially for the Iraqi security forces — and the insurgency is more active than in much of the rest of Iraq.

"These guys are definitely kept on their toes," said Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Frank Alzalore, who was instructing the Iraqis.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60561