Starting excersizes with mines

This week we started going to the field and putting into practice what we learned in the class. We learned how to lay down a mine field and pick it up quickly and easily. We also got a chance to see how mines really work. Up until now, we have been using test dummies (that don’t actually explode) and we have talked about them in class. This week however, we went to the vadi netek. The netek is a huge open area where we got to put into practice the things we have been learning. We were each given a fairly large amount of plastic explosives and we were allowed to blow up whatever we wanted (within reason of course.)

I put my share of explosives into a bottle of water and compared it to the effects of explosives outside water. It was so cool to see the difference as well as see the other explosives in real life.

Another cool thing I did was get a new pakal (specialty.) My new pakal is magmak hod or metal detector for the whole group. This means that I am the first person into a minefield with the metal detector. It is my job to find the safest pass through the minefield. It also means that any mines I find, I have to defuse. While the job is extremely dangerous, it is also a lot of fun and a lot of responsibility.

I can’t wait to see what next week brings and what we get to do