Training center’s mission impacts post-war regions around world
Channel: Defense Now
Date: 2021-04-01

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Training center’s mission impacts post-war regions around world
U.S. Army Garrison Fort Lee Public Affairs.
Story by Terrance Bell.
Wednesday, March 31, 2021.

FORT LEE, Va.  – When the war has ended, its work has just begun.

The Humanitarian Demining Training Center’s impact can be felt across continents, countries and conflicts as a post-war resource supporting the removal of explosive remnants of battle amongst other efforts to make places safe again.

That primarily means training select U.S. military personnel in landmine and battle area clearance with the expectation of them sharing those skills and knowledge with partner nations who have common security interests.

“Our mission is an integral part of stabilization and recovery operations for the Department of Defense,” said Jonathan Green, HDTC director. “As a part of stabilization operations, our programs are designed to dispose of explosive remnants of war, in which the materials may become precursors for weapons used by state or non-state actors. Those ERWs can potentially be used in whole or in part in some capacity against our partners, allies and interests.”

HDTC’s mission also includes assisting partner nations with explosive ordnance disposal, physical security and stockpile management of conventional munitions until the excess or unsecure materials are destroyed.

“We have a unique mission,” said Angel Belen, HDTC deputy director. “We’re the only entity in the entire Department of Defense that provides post-conflict assistance to partner nations in the removal, disposal or rendering safe of explosives that can cause harm to people, farming, industry or anything vital to restoration and development.”

HDTC uses a train-the-trainer approach to mission execution. Five civilian instructors at Fort Lee are charged with training military and civilian members from DOD and other federal agencies in the administration of DOD’s Humanitarian Mine Action programs, which are overseen by HDTC’s parent organization, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. Course graduates go on to train personnel in countries all over the world, supporting long-term strategies for ERW removal. 

“For example in Colombia, HDTC trained a hundred de-miners in instruction, curriculum development, presentation skills and landmine clearance drills,” Belen said. “They, in turn, have trained over 5,000 others so far.”

On a fundamental level, the HDTC mission is centered on the administrative requirements of HMA project execution but does not neglect explosives disposal vocational skills requirements. Students attending HDTC courses possess military occupational certifications from military department Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Infantry, Engineer, Medical or dive schools. At HDTC, students learn application of those skills in the HMA domain and are taught policy and law, surveying, how to tailor instruction to partner nation conditions, and project planning and execution.  

Martin DuMond, a landmine clearance training instructor, came to HDTC in 2007 after working years in Army civil affairs, which introduced him to landmine issues in developing countries. 

“Being a civil affairs guy, we would go to Latin America quite a bit for a lot of humanitarian assistance missions. (We visited) very remote parts of countries where you would sometimes see children without shoes, so whenever you can do something for people who are impoverished, that’s kind of what I wanted to do.” 

When he came aboard 14 years ago, HDTC’s only mission was landmine clearance. 

“I’ve seen HDTC transition over the years,” said DuMond, noting the organization expanded its mission capability around 2009. “I’ve seen many modifications to the authority and policy governing our program that broadened the scope of our capabilities.” 

These days, DuMond splits his time between traveling to partner nations to assess training requirements for specific projects and providing training for U.S. military personnel assigned to execute those projects. Training subjects include humanitarian mine action law and policy, theory and instructional strategies.

“Part of what we’ve done in the past is prepare students to teach and introduce them to curriculum development because … if training material needs to be modified for the country, then they must make the modifications,” DuMond said. “Of course, we’re always there to support the units, but it’s important students learn how to instruct and how to tailor curriculums.”

In the EOD and Physical Security/Stockpile Management arena, instructors Chris Claire and Rommel Meza’s duties are similar to DuMond’s.  

“Our primary jobs are helping the combatant command’s HMA program managers establish either EOD or PSSM projects in countries the combatant commands want to support,” said Claire, who spent time in the Marine Corps EOD field.