Clearance Diver on Op Slipper
3 May 2011
A Chief Petty Officer (CPO) deployed to Kandahar in Afghanistan is literally feeling like a fish out of water.
Clearance Diver CPO Paul Knight is working at the Combined Explosive Exploitation Cell (CEXC) as an Australian embed in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Headquarters at Regional Command – South (RC - South).
“I take the evidence that the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) personnel bring to us from IED incident sites, including IEDs and IED components,” CPO Knight said.
“I then look at all the material, checking it against the list provided and make sure it’s safe to be examined further.
“I remove any explosive and chemical hazards, I then x-ray and photograph all the evidence, re-bag it all and write a report. It’s then passed on to another section for further examination.”
Since arriving in Kandahar in February, CPO Knight and his ISAF work colleagues from the United States, Canada and the Netherlands have been kept busy.
“We work 12-hour shifts and it’s getting busier,” CPO Knight said.
“We are processing 100 cases or events through the laboratory per week.
“If we are examining a weapons cache find we could be dealing with up to 100 items in one case and the most we’ve dealt with was 172.”
CPO Knight had one incident during his deployment which stands out in his mind.
“A soldier brought us something he’d taken off one of the locals,” CPO Knight said.
“He wasn’t an EOD operator, so he didn’t know what it was either.
“It turned out to be a component out of an aerial chaff dispenser and, after further examination, we isolated it, wrapped it up and followed procedures for its destruction.
CPO Knight worked in a similar role during 2007-2008 whilst in Baghdad, Iraq.
“I spent seven months there and it was almost the same job as I’m doing here, but I was also involved with the intelligence side of IEDs,” CPO Knight said.
His Iraq and Afghanistan jobs have been a little different to what he usually does in Australia.
“My posting in Australia is in a staff position at the Mine Warfare Clearance Diving Group at HMAS Waterhen, dealing with the procurement of new mine warfare equipment for the ships and Clearance Divers,” CPO Knight said.
“You can’t really compare the job to what I’m doing here.”
He already has plans to put to good use his experience gained in Afghanistan and pass it onto other Navy personnel when he returns to Australia.
“In our branch at home we are focussed on the EOD side of explosives, mainly because of events which occur here in Afghanistan,” CPO Knight said.
“I’ve seen the trends in types of IEDs being made and I’ll go back and inform everyone what I’ve seen and experienced.”
CPO Knight is due to return home in August.
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