Life Doesn’t Quite Mimic Oscar-Nominated Film For Afghan Bomb Squad

The Afghan soldier in the NASA-like bomb suit has probably never seen “The Hurt Locker.”

But whether he knows it or not, the short, slight man with the sparse moustache lives the life depicted in the award-winning film about an American bomb disposal squad in Iraq.

The soldier – who the Canadian military asked not to identify for security reasons – is part of the Afghan army’s fledgling bomb squad.

Every day he and his team scour southern Afghanistan’s dusty roads and fields for hidden explosives.

These makeshift bombs have been the scourge of soldiers from Canada and other countries serving in Afghanistan. The insurgents hide crude bombs anywhere they think foreign troops might tread.

Improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, have felled 84 of the 140 Canadian soldiers killed during the Afghan mission.

That grim tally speaks to the need to train Afghan troops to spot and disarm the deadly devices so they can take over the dangerous duty when coalition forces leave the country.

Canadian mentors have worked with this Afghan team for three-and-a-half months now.

What this crop of Canadian trainers is doing is more like polishing. Previous mentors have already trained these Afghans in the basics. Now they’re being fine tuned in the art of bomb disposal.

A recent visit to Camp Hero – the Afghan army base just outside Kandahar Airfield – was a chance to see the bomb squad practising for the real thing.

Their work is not quite like the Oscar-nominated movie.

In one scene, the main character pulls a cord to reveal a daisy chain of buried artillery shells. A Canadian soldier who trains the Afghan bomb team says that’s just not realistic.

“Each shell weighs approximately 60 pounds. He picked up five, I believe,” said the Canadian soldier, who also couldn’t be identified for security reasons.

“There’s no way somebody could with one hand pick up 300 pounds, even with an adrenaline rush.”

During the mock scenario at Camp Hero, the moustachioed Afghan soldier donned what looked like an astronaut’s suit and helmet.

The soldier weighs 143 pounds. The suit weighs 198. It’s hot and heavy and adds to the already arduous nature of the job.

The Afghan trudges down a pebble-strewn dirt path with a metal detector, looking for the “bomb” his trainers implanted. He carries a black duffle bag that contains the tools of the trade.

He finds the bomb and kneels to defuse it. Explosive disarmed, he walks back to the tan-coloured Humvee to rejoin the rest of his team.

This time was a practice run. The bomb wasn’t live and the soldier wasn’t in harm’s way.

But there have been close calls in the field.

The 26-year-old soldier from northern Afghanistan, speaking through a translator, recounts how he once nearly stepped on a pressure plate while on a foot patrol before spotting the device at the last minute.

He knows his job is dangerous, probably more dangerous than most jobs in the Afghan army. He says his parents worry about him.

So why does he do it?

“Because of my country, to save my people from dangers, that’s why I like this job.”