February 23, 2009 - Tridentnews.ca

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24 SPECIAL REPORT: AFGHANISTAN TRIDENT, FEBRUARY 23, 2009 L’expert en NEM de la Marine se remémore un incident stupéfiant Navy diver CPO2 Charlie Savard recently returned from seven months in Afghanistan. Navy EOD expert recalls astonishing incident By Darlene Blakeley Maple Leaf e just want to help.” These words, “Wfrom Navy clearance diver CPO2 Charlie Savard, neatly sum up the attitude of many sailors deployed to the dusty plains and mountains of Afghanistan. A long way from their normal sea-based environment, they nonetheless work alongside members of the Army and Air Force to ensure that Canada’s objectives are being met in that war torn country. And, like their counterparts, they have stories to tell. CPO2 Savard, an explosives ordnance disposal (EOD) expert from Fleet Diving Unit (Pacific), recently returned from more than seven months in Afghanistan. Although originally sent over with 1 Combat Engineer Regiment from Edmonton, he was immediately seconded to ISAF’s Counter-Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Team in Regional Command South. As a highly skilled postblast investigator, he then joined the Counter Explosives Exploitation Cell where he worked in a Kandahar lab dealing with blast evidence following incidents. The talents of CPO2 Savard, a 24-year veteran with the Navy, were in high demand and he worked alongside other experts in the EOD field from countries such as Australia, Britain and the US in both Kandahar and Helmand Province. “Most of the guys had at least 17 or 18 years experience and we meshed together nicely,” he said. Midway through his tour, CPO2 Savard was tasked to go with an American EOD team to a forward-operating base in Helmand Province. While there, they were asked to accompany a convoy to a smaller base nearby that had been under siege for 30 days and had run out of rations. During the pre-operation briefing, they were told that IEDs were common along the only route they could follow to get to the base. “This looks like a bad B movie,” quipped one of CPO2 Savard’s colleagues. “We’re being forced down a channel into a certain area.” His words turned out to be prophetic. The convoy successfully reached the base with much-needed rations and supplies, but the return journey proved to be the stuff of stories told to grandchildren in later years. “We received word just before we left the base that insurgents were mad because they had missed the convoy going in,” said CPO2 Savard. Although they were well prepared, it was still startling when the convoy came under attack. CPO2 Savard was riding in a light armoured vehicle with a driver, an EOD colleague and two young British soldiers. The soldiers, acting as sentries, were standing up in the hatch of the vehicle when the detonations started going off. “One of the soldiers started to return fire and I was burned by the brass casings falling in my lap as I sat in the back seat,” says CPO2 Savard. All of a sudden something skinned the shoulder of the first soldier, bounced off the helmet of the second soldier and landed in the road beside them where it exploded. Eye witnesses later told them it was a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG), capable of travelling up to 294 metres per second. After quickly performing first aid on the soldier with the shoulder wound, CPO2 Savard checked the helmet of the other solider and found an oval mark and crack where the RPG had hit. In typical battlefield humour, the main concern arose when the soldier with the wound realized that as the RPG skinned his shoulder, it effectively removed a tattoo for which he had recently paid 75 pounds. “Except for the tattoo,” laughed CPO2 Savard, “we walked out of there lucky.” Now back in Canada, CPO2 Savard tells the story to shed light on the work of Navy clearance divers in Afghanistan. “We are highly trained to do this kind of work—we can do any type of land or sea ordnance disposal all over the world.” But the main reason “It feels good to be helping our guys over there,” he said. PM2 Savard a découvert une marque ovale et une fêlure à l’endroit où la GPF avait percuté. Par Darlene Blakeley La Feuille d’érable ous voulons simple- aider » Ces «Nment mots du Premier maître de 2e classe Charlie Savard, un plongeur-démineur de la Marine, résument parfaitement l’attitude de nombreux marins déployés dans les plaines et les montagnes poussiéreuses d’Afghanistan. Loin de leur environnement maritime habituel, ils travaillent néanmoins avec des membres de l’Armée de terre et de la Force aérienne en vue d’assurer l’atteinte des objectifs du Canada dans ce pays déchiré par la guerre. Comme leurs homologues, ils ont des histoires à raconter. Le Pm 2 Savard, expert en neutralisation des explosifs et munitions (NEM) de l’Unité de plongée de la Flotte (Pacifique), est récemment de retour au Canada après une mission de plus de sept mois en Afghanistan. Initialement déployé au sein du 1er Régiment du génie d’Edmonton, le Pm 2 Savard a été immédiatement réaffecté dans l’équipe de protection contre les dispositifs explosifs de circonstance (IED) de la FIAS, au sein du Commandement régional (Sud). Enquêteur post-explosion hautement qualifié, il a intégré alors la cellule de lutte contre l’exploitation d’explosifs où il a travaillé dans un laboratoire de Kandahar, en assurant le traitement des preuves d’explosion à la suite des incidents. Le Pm 2 Savard, qui compte 24 ans dans la Marine, et dont les talents sont très en demande, a travaillé dans les provinces de Kandahar et d’Helmand avec d’autres experts en NEM originaires d’autres pays comme l’Australie, la Grande-Bretagne et les États-Unis. « La plupart des mes collègues avaient au moins 17 ou 18 ans d’expérience et la collaboration était harmonieuse », dit-il. À mi-parcours de sa période de service, le Pm 2 Savard a été chargé de se rendre avec une équipe américaine de NEM dans une base d’opérations avancées, située dans la province d’Helmand. Durant la séance d’information préopérationnelle, on leur avait dit que les dispositifs explosifs de circonstance (IED) étaient courants le long de la seule route qu’ils pouvaient emprunter pour se rendre à la base. « Ça a l’air d’un mauvais film de série B. On nous oblige à nous diriger dans une certaine zone », dit avec esprit l’un des collègues du Pm 2 Savard. Ses mots se sont révélés prophétiques. Le convoi est parvenu à se rendre à la base avec les vivres et les fournitures essentielles, mais le voyage de retour a pris les allures de récits qu’on raconte plus tard à ses petitsenfants ». « Peu avant notre départ de la base, on nous avait averti que les insurgés étaient en colère, parce qu’ils avaient manqué le convoi lorsque celui-ci se rendait à la base », dit le Pm 2 Savard. Même s’ils étaient bien préparés, les membres du convoi ont été tout de même surpris lorsqu’ils ont été attaqués. Le Pm 2 Savard était à bord d’un véhicule blindé léger en compagnie du conducteur, un collègue de l’équipe de NEM, ainsi que deux jeunes soldats britanniques. Ces derniers, en sentinelle, étaient debout dans la trappe du véhicule lorsque les détonations ont commencé à retentir. « L’un des soldats a commencé à riposter, et j’étais brûlé par les douilles fumantes qui me tombaient sur les jambes, puisque j’étais assis sur le siège arrière », dit le Pm 2 Savard. Soudain, quelque chose écorcha l’épaule du premier soldat, ricocha sur le casque du second soldat et tomba sur la route, à côté d’eux, avant d’exploser. Des témoins leur ont dit plus tard qu’il s’agissait d’une grenade propulsée par fusée (GPF) pouvant parcourir une distance de 294 mètres par seconde. Après avoir prodigué rapidement les premiers soins au soldat blessé à l’épaule, le Pm 2 Savard a vérifié le casque de l’autre soldat, et a découvert une marque ovale et une fêlure à l’endroit où la GPF avait percuté. Humour classique de champ de bataille : le soldat blessé à l’épaule était très préoccupé lorsqu’il s’est aperçu que la GPF lui avait également ôté le tatouage, qui lui avait récemment coûté 75 £. « À l’exception du tatouage, nous nous en sommes sortis indemnes », dit en souriant le Pm 2 Savard. De retour maintenant au Canada, le Pm 2 Savard raconte cette histoire afin d’attirer l’attention sur le travail que les plongeurs-démineurs de la Marine accomplissent en Afghanistan. « Nous sommes hautement formés pour exécuter ce genre de travail – nous pouvons effectuer toutes sortes de déminage à terre ou en mer partout dans le monde. » Mais la principale raison « Ça fait du bien d’aider nos amis là-bas », explique-il.
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February 23, 2009 - Tridentnews.ca

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