Humanitarian demining field designed for TEEX training program

A new minefield training grid for the TEEX Explosives Safety and Security Training Program was inaugurated during the Demining class held last week on the Riverside Campus. The field expands the program’s capabilities in the area of training in humanitarian demining.

The training area includes buried (and inactive) anti-personnel, anti-tank and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW). The 30,000-square-foot minefield is an expansion of the UXO (unexploded ordnance) training grid, which has been used for several years in the UXO Technician I course.

The Demining course is a new weeklong course being offered through the relationship between TEEX Public Safety and Security (PS&S) and the International School for Security and Explosives Safety (ISSEE). Mike Knox of ISSEE, who is currently attached to PS&S, said the course curriculum was developed by ISSEE – with assistance from Phil Yeaman – and prepares personnel to carry out demining procedures and clearance operations in accordance with International Mine Action Standards.

The eight students who successfully completed the TEEX UXO Technician I program and the recent Demining course earned a City & Guilds certification as an International EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) Technician Level 1, which qualifies them to work on United Nations demining projects worldwide.

The new minefield and the TEEX/ISSEE Demining course were recently reviewed in a Subject Matter Expert (SME) exchange with the Department of Defense, Center for Humanitarian Demining, said Ed Fritz, Training Coordinator for the PS&S Security and Explosives Program. “This exchange increased our knowledge and awareness of other training venues and the levels of complexity that exist in the state-sponsored demining efforts from the U.S. Department of State and the United Nations. This is a further benefit gained by our relationship with ISSEE.”

Fritz will be going on a reciprocal visit in March to the DOD Center for Humanitarian Demining located at Fort Leonard Wood, MO, for a review of their training venue and techniques.