This week in Galway the Engineer Corps are conducting an Engineer Specialist Search and Clearance (ESSC) exercise. Teams from all three field units are present and are undergoing tasks that they may face either at home or overseas. The ESSC team is tasked with clearing a route to a suspected device, clearing a road or rail track and detecting suspected Improvised Explosive Devises (IEDs) or making safe a building prior to a VIP visit.
This is a highly skilled job and requires continuous training. By using specialist equipment, their eyes, and years of experience, the engineer teams can spot explosive devices, booby-trap, or detonator wires, that are well concealed to the untrained eye.
Working alongside EOD teams from the Ordnance Corps the ESSC teams regularly get called out both at home and overseas. Only recently a 600lb bomb was found in south Armagh. However the command wire led from the roadside where it was planted to a firing point on the Co. Louth side of the border. An ESSC team from 2 Fld Eng was called upon to clear the area. Their training and experience resulted in them being an integral part of Ireland’s commitment to the EU Nordic Battlegroup
To view images follow this link