13 June 2024
Penrith’s main retail strip could have just as easily been the battle-ravaged streets of Kharkiv or Kherson for 16 students at the Defence Explosive Ordnance Training School.
Surrounded by pedestrians and businesses, they were planning how to safely dispose of hypothetical unexploded bombs as part of a revamped Conventional Munitions Disposal course.
It was the first course run under a new explosive ordnance disposal curriculum introduced this year.
Senior explosive ordnance instructor Army Captain Scott Bowers said the triservice school recently adopted a case-study approach to learning, after students called for training based on current events.
As a result, instructors used threat reports from combat zones to develop scenarios mirroring what’s happening in Ukraine.
“Large aircraft bombs have been dropped near houses or communal areas and failed to detonate – we’ve mirrored the type of munition, where it was found and its orientation in our training,” Captain Bowers said.
The students based their calculations on these factors before detonating munitions in a controlled environment.
Leading Aircraftman Brandon Davies, a graduate of the 10-week course, said planning hypothetical munitions disposal in a built-up area, such as Penrith, added a level of complexity for his cohort.
“When you add in the realism of people walking around the buildings, shopping centres and hospitals, you have to think about mitigating explosive-hazard risk and working with emergency services and police,” Leading Aircraftman Davies said.
“There’s a whole risk-management side of things that’s harder to deliver in the classroom.”
As well as introducing real-world scenarios, it was the first time the school incorporated mentoring.
Instructors worked with specific groups for the length of the course.
Instructor Leading Seaman Bradley Telford said trainees showed more initiative under this model.
“We took our mentorship role personally and had significant buy-in – the students were self-motivated, doing additional training in their spare time,” Leading Seaman Telford said.
