- Joined
- Jul 11, 2004
- Messages
- 1,179
- Points
- 103
The officer in charge of the Army’s bomb disposal teams has resigned after voicing concern over the pressure his unit faces on the frontline and stressing the need for reinforcements.
Colonel Bob Seddon, speaking in a TV documentary made by the wife of one of his bomb disposal experts who was killed last year in Afghanistan, said that the Army was trying to train more people to destroy the buried explosives that litter southern Afghanistan but it would take time.
The programme details how the Ministry of Defenc (MoD) suspended bomb squad recruitment in 2002 for 18 months, resulting in a severe shortage of operatives.
“I am very concerned as their head of trade at the pressures that they are facing in Afghanistan,” the officer said. “We are seeking now to bring people back into high threat IED [improvised explosive device] operations that have been out for some time. We are looking at more senior officers becoming involved in this. We’ve broadened our training and selection but it will take some time before these measures can come into play. And what it does mean is, it means the existing cohort are going to be under pressure.”
He continued: “I certainly think we could do with more high threat teams and IED operators in Afghanistan”.
Colonel Seddon also said that he was very concerned about the long-term psychological impact on soldiers of the pressure of dealing repeatedly with potentially fatal incidents.
“We’re about to kick off a more detailed study looking at the psychological impact of these operations because we have a duty of care. We owe it to these people to do the best we can.”
The Ministry of Defence last night confirmed that the officer had quit as principal ammunition technical officer of the Royal Logistics Corps and would be leaving the Armed Forces altogether in January.
“He remains a serving officer and will not be commenting. The Army remains committed to the counter IED effort which is the number one priority in Afghanistan,” an MoD spokesman said.
In the documentary by the BBC’s Panorama, Christina Schmid, the widow of Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid, questioned for the first time whether the Army had failed in its duty of care towards her husband.
She said he was “flaking” with exhaustion on the day he died because of demands being made on him and his elite team due to staff shortages.
Staff Sergeant Schmid, known as Oz, was killed by an IED the day before he was due to return home for a two-week break last October. It was his third call-out of the day and he had defused 64 devices during the tour of duty.
Mrs Schmid said he told her that he was drained, leading her to believe that extreme fatigue may have played a part in his death. Reading from his letters and recalling his phone calls home, Mrs Schmid said: “He basically said it was absolutely relentless — that they weren’t getting a break at all and that the amount of IEDs that he was doing, that he was asked to do, was just overwhelming. He was flaking at that point, saying, ‘I do need a break from this. I need to step back because I need to recharge’ and I don’t feel that he necessarily had that time.”
Staff Sergeant Schmid, 30, and his team worked in temperatures of up to 50C (122F), so often they did not wear their cumbersome protective suits. On the day he died his team were trapped in an alleyway after finding a wire attached to a bomb. Staff Sergeant Schmid followed it to the explosives and died while trying to deactivate the device.
Mrs Schmid has been widely praised for the dignity that she has shown in her grief.
Responding to the programme Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary, said: “I will make sure that everything possible is done to ensure that our Forces have what they need to deal with this indiscriminate threat.”
Colonel Bob Seddon, speaking in a TV documentary made by the wife of one of his bomb disposal experts who was killed last year in Afghanistan, said that the Army was trying to train more people to destroy the buried explosives that litter southern Afghanistan but it would take time.
The programme details how the Ministry of Defenc (MoD) suspended bomb squad recruitment in 2002 for 18 months, resulting in a severe shortage of operatives.
“I am very concerned as their head of trade at the pressures that they are facing in Afghanistan,” the officer said. “We are seeking now to bring people back into high threat IED [improvised explosive device] operations that have been out for some time. We are looking at more senior officers becoming involved in this. We’ve broadened our training and selection but it will take some time before these measures can come into play. And what it does mean is, it means the existing cohort are going to be under pressure.”
He continued: “I certainly think we could do with more high threat teams and IED operators in Afghanistan”.
Colonel Seddon also said that he was very concerned about the long-term psychological impact on soldiers of the pressure of dealing repeatedly with potentially fatal incidents.
“We’re about to kick off a more detailed study looking at the psychological impact of these operations because we have a duty of care. We owe it to these people to do the best we can.”
The Ministry of Defence last night confirmed that the officer had quit as principal ammunition technical officer of the Royal Logistics Corps and would be leaving the Armed Forces altogether in January.
“He remains a serving officer and will not be commenting. The Army remains committed to the counter IED effort which is the number one priority in Afghanistan,” an MoD spokesman said.
In the documentary by the BBC’s Panorama, Christina Schmid, the widow of Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid, questioned for the first time whether the Army had failed in its duty of care towards her husband.
She said he was “flaking” with exhaustion on the day he died because of demands being made on him and his elite team due to staff shortages.
Staff Sergeant Schmid, known as Oz, was killed by an IED the day before he was due to return home for a two-week break last October. It was his third call-out of the day and he had defused 64 devices during the tour of duty.
Mrs Schmid said he told her that he was drained, leading her to believe that extreme fatigue may have played a part in his death. Reading from his letters and recalling his phone calls home, Mrs Schmid said: “He basically said it was absolutely relentless — that they weren’t getting a break at all and that the amount of IEDs that he was doing, that he was asked to do, was just overwhelming. He was flaking at that point, saying, ‘I do need a break from this. I need to step back because I need to recharge’ and I don’t feel that he necessarily had that time.”
Staff Sergeant Schmid, 30, and his team worked in temperatures of up to 50C (122F), so often they did not wear their cumbersome protective suits. On the day he died his team were trapped in an alleyway after finding a wire attached to a bomb. Staff Sergeant Schmid followed it to the explosives and died while trying to deactivate the device.
Mrs Schmid has been widely praised for the dignity that she has shown in her grief.
Responding to the programme Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary, said: “I will make sure that everything possible is done to ensure that our Forces have what they need to deal with this indiscriminate threat.”
