Senegalese soldiers learn how to use a pulley system

Senegalese soldiers learn how to use a pulley system and rope to remove an inert mortar round from the ground and move it safely to another spot. The intent wasn’t to actually move the ordnance, rather to get the students familiar with different types of tools. Since Feb. 15, a group of explosive ordnance disposal technicians with Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response-Africa, began assisting Senegalese engineers as part of the Humanitarian Mine Action Program through what is called a train-the-trainer course. The program initially began in 2014, when EOD Marines from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and Vermont Air National Guard EOD technicians began teaching a group of veteran, hand-selected Senegalese soldiers how to be instructors. Now, in its second phase, three Senegalese soldiers, all engineers, are instructing eight junior-level soldiers in an EOD level one class, which teaches students how identify various types of ordnance and landmines and how to properly mark its locations.