Brazilian team to train GDF in explosives disposal
Stabroek News
September 24, 2002
Almost two years after three soldiers died in a series of explosions at Camp Groomes, a team of Brazilian experts has arrived to conduct training in Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD).
The Soesdyke/Linden Highway facility was evacuated after the arms store went up in flames on December 18, 2000. The following year, in October 2001, a three-man Brazilian EOD team visited and submitted a preliminary report to the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) after completing an assessment of the necessary equipment required for sanitising the explosion site.
Major Eduardo Mauricio Leite Medina, who headed that team, had also submitted a technical report and a list of recommendations to the Brazilian Army Headquarters for consideration.
Last year's visit paved the way for the arrival of a six-man Brazilian team, headed again by Major Medina, to train the local military in explosive disposal. The four-week course, titled the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Course, commenced yesterday following an opening ceremony at the Jaguar Lecture Hall, Training Corps, Timehri.
Delivering the feature address, Lieutenant Colonel Randy Storm, the officer responsible for Finance and Logistics (SO1 G4), urged the two officers and 32 other ranks of the GDF selected for the course to open their minds, ask questions and review in groups, the training they would receive.
Storm welcomed the Brazilians on behalf of the Chief-of-Staff and ranks of the GDF and thanked them for sharing their knowledge on explosives.
"We know that at the end of this course, the students that we have selected will all be successful. Not only because of the preparation and training they had prior to your arrival in Guyana, but because of the expertise you bring to them," said Storm.
Storm also noted that the Brazilians were experts and had participated in mine clearing exercises with the United Nations as well as clearing up explosion sites similar to that at Camp Groomes.
Medina told the gathering that it was an honour for himself and the team to be in Guyana to conduct training with members of the GDF. According to him, although the Brazilian government sent the technical team to assist in the preparation of Camp Groomes, they did not have the best solution.
He has, however, brought "the Brazilian armed solution, based on the experience ... we gained when a similar accident occurred in one of Brazil's ammunition depots five years ago."
Medina, an engineering officer in the Brazilian Armed Forces and an expert in de-mining operations who has participated in de-mining exercises during the Organi-sation of American States operation in Central America, also noted that they, like the GDF, did not have sophisticated equipment.
"All we have are the human resources and the wish to accomplish the mission successfully."
The army said participants on the course were drawn from four Engineers Battalions.