Having a blast

Suitable attire: Defence Explosive Ordnance Training School instructor Cpl Paul Whitton removes the heavy bomb suit. Photos by John Wellfare

Kitted out: Instructor Cpl Paul Whitton in full bomb suit.

Trades involving explosives are unforgiving of mistakes. John Wellfare finds out what it means to study at the Defence Explosive Ordnance Training School.

AN Improvised Explosive Device Disposal (IEDD) operator’s bomb suit isn’t designed for comfort.

It weighs about 30kg, restricts movement to only the most basic and essential functions and is so hot the wearer is usually drenched in sweat after only a few minutes. But it’s better than the alternative – being totally unprotected in an explosion.

Although mention of the Defence Explosive Ordnance Training School (DEOTS) conjures an image of an IEDD operator in a bomb suit, that’s only one of the trades taught at the tri-Service establishment in Orchard Hills, west of Sydney. Armament engineers, weapon bay supervisors and technical staff are among the many personnel who may have a reason to study at DEOTS.

The school was formed as part of the Defence Explosive Ordnance Rationalisation Project, which has been developing a common explosive ordnance curriculum throughout Defence.

The school’s Engineering Logistics Training Officer, Len Milkins, says the majority of students are training for armament-related roles rather than EOD.

“We have the explosive ordnance supervisor course and the explosive ordnance manager course, basically to teach people how to look after the area, the situation, where explosive ordnance is involved,” he says.

Traditionally, those situations are on airfields, where Air Force aircraft are loaded with armaments, but with the Army’s introduction of the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter and the Navy’s Sea Sprite, the demand for qualified explosive ordnance supervisors and managers is rapidly increasing. And the number of Air Force personnel who need explosive ordnance qualifications is increasing also, particularly since self-protection systems have been fitted to more platforms than ever before.

As joint operations become more commonplace and combat aircraft from across the Services are more likely than ever to be sharing flight lines, the school’s purpose is to make sure all personnel are working from the same rule book.

Given the nature of modern armaments, their destructive power and their cost, quality training is vital.

“There’s a whole spate of characteristics and competencies involved,” Mr Milkins says. “It’s a very simple thing to the uninitiated, but it is quite complex.

“Failure to observe any rules can result in, apart from the damage to people and equipment, the equipment that’s damaged is the classic million-dollar missile and suddenly you have impaired Australia’s defence.”

The longest course a student at DEOTS can undertake is the 13-week Armament Engineer Course, which trains officers and civilians recently graduated from an engineering degree and follow-on courses to be the primary advisor for armament issues in a unit or as part of a Defence Group, such as DMO.

DEOTS Training Delivery Officer Flt-Lt Justin Cockroft says the course must cover a range of ordnance-related skills to meet the needs of students.

“It’s broad,” he says. “The whole intent of the course is to give the tools to a person who’s going to be an armament engineer in a unit.

“We teach them the theory of explosives, the engineering design of weapons and all the regulation-type material that they need to know, because generally they get out there and they are the contact for anything armament.”

In moving the course over to the tri-Service environment, it was important to ensure the training catered to the needs of all course participants.

“It sounds very much like an Air Force course, but I think we’ve made it quite generic in a lot of areas, ” Flt-Lt Cockroft says.

“What we teach them can be turned to suit any situation and … we can steer their learning to their specific needs.”

All these courses have been established to meet the aims of the rationalisation project, an objective that is gradually nearing completion, according to project leader Wg-Cmdr Graeme Davies.

“The goal is to come up with common curriculum wherever we can,” he says. “Instead of having these little stovepipes of training where there’s so much commonality, we have a curriculum that meets the requirements of multiple customers in one course.”

The school is staffed by Air Force and civilian instructors, with part-time participation by Navy and Army training developers.