The Bomb Squad - First Season

The number-one killer of British troops in Afghanistan is IEDs,

improvised explosive devices or homemade bombs that the Taliban dig into the ground to target troops.

In 2010, IEDs killed or wounded almost 8,500 coalition troops

and an estimated 11,000 Afghans.

In Central Helmand, the job of finding

and destroying all these bombs

comes down to The British Counter IED Task Force known as Brimstone.

For the first time ever, the Ministry of Defence has allowed this work to be filmed.

From the searchers who go looking for IEDs...

METAL DETECTOR SQUEALS

..to the bomb disposal operator whose job it is to make them safe...

..and also the teams who have to deal with the devastating impact of an IED.

He had lost his leg quite high above the knee on the left side.

His right leg had been amputated at a through-knee amputation

and his left arm had significant injuries.

He's still in a critical condition and that's largely due to the injuries to his pelvis area.

This is the story of the people who put their lives on the line every day -

the people who walk towards the bomb.

Today, Adam and Brimstone 4-7 have been called into a Taliban area

where there are thought to be IEDs.

Adam is nearly halfway through his six-month tour

of Afghanistan as a bomb disposal operator.

Right, go on, Tone!

'They know that they struggle to take us on toe-to-toe.'

Firing!

Stay down! Stay down!

What they have got is a very crude, very simplistic way

of causing us harm, which is sneaking around and placing explosives in the ground.

Standby. Firing.

EXPLOSION

And they do a good job at it.

They know where we're likely to go, they know where we can't see.

They know the ground so much more intimately than we could ever hope to, and it works.

It does, it slows us down, it breaks our morale,

you know, it costs us money.

Firing!

It achieves all those things at very little cost to them.

Adam has been called out to a wall.

The Taliban have been using it for cover

when shooting at a small army base.

They have just isolated, boss, so they are just starting now.

The army want to knock it down, but they think the area is booby-trapped.

This one operation involves units out on the ground and in the air.

Go, seek, seek, seek.

The search dog spots something unusual.

Like a gulley bit where it goes in like that. Yeah.

By the entrance of there. She stopped dead, tail went up.

Until the searchers find something, Adam just has to wait.

That's the jacket.

The helmet, plate, one set of trousers.

To be honest, a lot of the jobs over there are not done in a bomb suit

cos it's just too hot and, erm, if you get contacted

when you're on task, then obviously you can't...

it's difficult to run away in that.

But you'd never make an approach without a suit in the UK.

Some people wanted to do it since they were kids.

They'd say, "Yeah, I want to be the bomb disposal guy," you know,

sat at home crossed-legged on the bed flicking through Guns & Ammo magazine or whatever.

But they're fairly few and far between, and you talk to a lot of operators

and they're the ones that by chance have ended up in the right place at the right time.

And job-wise, it's been fantastic and I've really enjoyed it.

That's not saying I'm not at all dubious about the job I'm going to do

but I'm not necessarily losing sleep over it.

No, I wouldn't say I'm an excessive worrier.

I'm going to try and not think about the next six months too much

cos I know the last time he was away, I did worry a lot.

And as long as I hear from him occasionally.

Last time he was away, how many phone calls did I get?

Three? Get away. In six months? Something like that. Get away!

It's true. It's not true. That IS true.

That's a massive exaggeration. Six, maybe. Get out! It's true!

Are you going to put your phone down and come and say night-night?

I want to play with my phone.

Go and say night-night to Daddy.

Night-night, Daddy.

'I think she has got into the routine of me being away, to be honest.

'She's moved four times since she has been born already.

'Yeah, she has had a lot of change in a short life'

and I've not been around for a lot of it

and that shows in my relationship with her, definitely.

Find the corners, then.

'You know, it cuts me deep sometimes when she doesn't want to be my friend.'

Is that the corner?

No.

'But there'll be other birthday parties.'

It's not as though I'm missing her 21st or anything.

At the wall, one of the searchers has made a discovery in the bushes.

Yeah, he found something.

Bit of plastic, bit of wire and a little bit further,

another wire coming out of the mud going into the plastic.

What have you marked it?

There's a yellow line where we started sending the dog up

and there's a yellow arrow going into it. Right, OK.

You see it. So if that's it there, the yellow arrow is going here, is it? Yes.

The searchers' job is finished. Now it's up to Adam.

I don't see much need in setting myself out

as though it's Operation Certain Death.

There is luck involved, but there is luck involved in everything you do.

I don't blame anyone for preparing themselves or their families

for the worst-case scenario, writing endless notes.

"Make sure they have this on sale behind the bar at my funeral," or all that sort of stuff.

You end up being quite blunt about it.

But if I went round thinking the next day was going to be my last

all the time, I wouldn't be able to work.

METAL DETECTOR SQUEALS

The wires found by the searcher could lead to a battery

hidden in the bushes.

The pressure plate that will trigger the bomb could be anywhere on the path.

As usual, everything is being watched.

I mean, you can see a couple of them

keeping an eye out on the roof over there...

..but the thing is you don't know

whether it's a local or it could actually be the bomb-maker himself,

you know, having a look trying to see what the operator is doing.

You know, so that's why you try not to set patterns.

Cos that's how operators get targeted.

Right, I can see where he has confirmed into the battery pack.

I can see the ground sign coming from it.

DISTANT GUNFIRE

That was the Apache just firing a few rounds, giving someone the good news.

Gleaming! Right, Gaz. Finger tipped into the link.

I can see the ground sign from the link into where the pressure plate probably is.

See the battery pack down there.

Adam will try to cut the wire but trigger the cut from a distance.

Right, start getting ready to move.

Just watch the cables. There shouldn't be an explosion.

We're just expecting a pop, that's it.

POP!

The wire is cut, but it doesn't mean the bomb is now safe.

The device is placed to target an individual

and it's based on what they do, where they go,

what time they go there, what they touch, what they move.

And as soon as we find a way to counter that,

they look at it and go, "Let's change that and introduce this into the circuit.

"Oh, they've developed this now, let's bring out this piece of kit."

It's a game of cat and mouse and it's ongoing.

You know, there'll be occasions when they're ahead,

there'll be occasions when we're ahead, and there will be times when a new device is discovered.

In a lot of instances, it will involve someone being injured

before we've established what that is.

Yeah, everything we do is watched closely in order

that we can be targeted in the future.

Adam goes back to see what more he needs to do.

Right, this wire goes right the way across the road.

The rest of the bomb is buried on the opposite side of the path.

There is an actual turd down here somewhere.

Dead bird, human turd.

How much more detritus can we possibly get down on this device?

There we go.

Right, I'm on t'end of the pressure plate. Yep.

Right, main charge directly beneath. Yep.

Adam has uncovered the main explosive

and another wire leading into it.

We good to go? Yeah.

Standby! Firing!

POP!

Right, I'm on to the det.

Right, det's off.

Get in!

Oh, I see.

The bomb is a pressure plate device with 5kg of explosive.

Parts of the bomb are collected for forensic investigation.

Some of it can lead back to the source which means that they can't get the supplies in

if we get rid of that source, which lowers the threat then.

The less items they can get, the less IEDs they can put in the ground,

the less of our lads they can kill.

Adam takes a small sample of the explosives.

And will blow the rest of it up.

Stand by! Firing!

That's the carbon rods.

So there's no metal signature. You can't pick it up on a metal detector.

Carbon rod on the top, carbon rod on the bottom.

It's when you press on and actually contact.

And the battery pack. Invariably, round here,

they're all nine volt PP3s,

the little badgers that sting your tongue when you lick 'em.

It's estimated that over 1,000 new IEDs

are hidden in the ground every month.

Smile for the camera.

It's taken a team of 40 nearly four hours to get rid of one device.

The wall can be safely knocked down.

Adam and the rest of his team return to their patrol base.

"Woman, could you please send the following pronto?

"Coffee bags, beef Monster Munch, and did I mention Mini Eggs?

"I've been smashing about two bombs a day on average over the last two weeks.

"I tried to..." You see, this is just my husband...

"..Tried to call you twice today from the sat phone,

"but you were probably out with your new boyfriend spending all my money." Charming!

"I'm in patrol base Nahidullah now. It's the badlands.

"I hope that Jennifer's party went well

"and that you cleared up after yourself in the bar."

The day after he left was Jennifer's birthday party.

Obviously the usual...

"Please, please don't spend all my money.

"Keep the house clean and tidy and get a grip of that animal."

Being his beautiful daughter.

So...lots and lots of love, my delightful husband.

Isn't he charming?

The Counter-IED Task Force

has teams spread throughout Central Helmand Province.