Nace Bilby
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"I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to me shall not hunger. He who believes in my shall not thirst. No one can come to Me, unless the Father draw him."
The long walk. Bomb disposal operators, no matter what nation they hail from are familiar with these three words. And it was during a presence patrol where the men of 4.1 Recce Commando in a village that Nace would disarm his first mine.
Captain Charles Munro, the patrol leader, spoke quietly to the village elder in the small hamlet the patrol had come into. He gestured for Nace to come over, he had been standing nearby as inner security for Munro's talk.
"Nace, the headman over there says there's a cache about 150 meters down the road. Go check it out, take Serge and Lidani with you." Munro ordered.
Nace nodded and walked with his teammates flanking him slightly behind on either side of the road, eyes ever alert for booby traps and mines. He had a small, collapsible metal detector in his left hand, his right remaining on the pistol grip of the R5 rifle, but his main defense were two of his mates as well as Kreuger and Shah from concealed positions with their sniper rifles and optics.
Finally reaching the near rotted out shack 150 meters down the road. He could see Serge and Lidani had taken positions somewhat further back, about twenty-five meters away. He was now on his own.
Not totally. Nace thought as he crossed himself. Approaching the shack's door, which was ajar. Scanning the area around the door, and finally the door itself. Something about it wasn't quite right.
"And I will raise you up. And I will raise you up. And I will raise you up, on the last day."
The light hitting the door showed something shimmering around the knob. Probably just a bloody spider web.
Looking closer. No, it was something translucent tied around the knob. Fishing line. And fishing line pulled taut. What is it connected to?
Following the line, careful not to touch it. Scanning the ground ahead until he reached the end of the clear monofilament line. A tangle of vines in front, at around ankle level.
Dropping to one knee and seeing that there was a clothespin in the brush, but with pieces of metal with wires just barely visible glued to each of them separated only by a small piece of balsa connected to the fishing line. Had he simply pushed the door open the rest of the way the balsa would've been yanked away and the two pieces of metal would click together and close an electrical circuit, triggering whatever was attached to the wires.
"The bread that I will give is My Flesh for the life of the world. And he who eats of this bread. He shall live forever. He shall live forever."
Following the wires seeing that they were partially hidden by the leaf litter of the nearby trees. Seeing that they lead to a small piece of metal sticking out of leaf litter, that was just behind and to the right of where he had first noticed the door and the monofilament.
Reaching into his toolkit for a paintbrush and lightly brushing the leaf litter away. He noticed the electrical fuze and the circular upper piece that told him the device was an OZM series mine, electrically fused.
The OZM series of mine was popularly nicknamed the 'Bouncing Betty' due to the fact that they were designed to pop out of the ground to about a half meter into the air before exploding and shooting fragments all around.
Had he simply pushed in the door the rest of the way the mine would've been set off, killing him most certainly and likely Serge and Lidani too.
Right, now to deal with this. Nace thought.
If he cut a wire he very well could trigger a hidden collapsing circuit and blow himself up anyway. And even if there wasn't a one, he would have to still disarm the mine itself, an easily more complicated matter if there was some form of anti-handling device on it.
Blast in place then. He set his backpack down and pulled out one of the plastic explosive charges in his kit before setting it up alongside the OZM mine, unspooling the firing cable and holding the igniter in his hand.
Retrieving his backpack he moved back the way he came towards his team mates, relaying his information and that the mine was rigged to blow.
He could hear Serge talking on the radio in a low voice and after a delay of a few minutes, knowing Munro was processing the information he heard Serge relaying the command from Munro to blow up the mine.
The three men got behind what cover they could before Nace ignited the explosive charge. A loud boom told him that the charge had done its job, destroying the mine in place.
"And I will raise you up. And I will raise you up. And I will raise you up on the last day."
Sometime later, after two enemy anti-tank rockets and several hundred rounds of ammunition were captured at the shack and destroyed in place by Nace and Serge, the patrol's demolition and EOD specialists, the men returned to base.
"Good work, Bilby." Serge said.
"Had you not pulled a similar trick during the training cycle I might not have caught that." Nace said.
"Hah," Serge gave a great belly laugh, "that bloody siren had the lot of you spooked."
"From the other lads, you're a wanker." Nace said, referring to a prank where Serge had used a similarly wired device connected to a siren when he was conducting a booby trap class for the unit.
"But I still give credit where it is due," Nace said, "Both for you being a wanker and you teaching me even more about booby traps."
The long walk. Bomb disposal operators, no matter what nation they hail from are familiar with these three words. And it was during a presence patrol where the men of 4.1 Recce Commando in a village that Nace would disarm his first mine.
Captain Charles Munro, the patrol leader, spoke quietly to the village elder in the small hamlet the patrol had come into. He gestured for Nace to come over, he had been standing nearby as inner security for Munro's talk.
"Nace, the headman over there says there's a cache about 150 meters down the road. Go check it out, take Serge and Lidani with you." Munro ordered.
Nace nodded and walked with his teammates flanking him slightly behind on either side of the road, eyes ever alert for booby traps and mines. He had a small, collapsible metal detector in his left hand, his right remaining on the pistol grip of the R5 rifle, but his main defense were two of his mates as well as Kreuger and Shah from concealed positions with their sniper rifles and optics.
Finally reaching the near rotted out shack 150 meters down the road. He could see Serge and Lidani had taken positions somewhat further back, about twenty-five meters away. He was now on his own.
Not totally. Nace thought as he crossed himself. Approaching the shack's door, which was ajar. Scanning the area around the door, and finally the door itself. Something about it wasn't quite right.
"And I will raise you up. And I will raise you up. And I will raise you up, on the last day."
The light hitting the door showed something shimmering around the knob. Probably just a bloody spider web.
Looking closer. No, it was something translucent tied around the knob. Fishing line. And fishing line pulled taut. What is it connected to?
Following the line, careful not to touch it. Scanning the ground ahead until he reached the end of the clear monofilament line. A tangle of vines in front, at around ankle level.
Dropping to one knee and seeing that there was a clothespin in the brush, but with pieces of metal with wires just barely visible glued to each of them separated only by a small piece of balsa connected to the fishing line. Had he simply pushed the door open the rest of the way the balsa would've been yanked away and the two pieces of metal would click together and close an electrical circuit, triggering whatever was attached to the wires.
"The bread that I will give is My Flesh for the life of the world. And he who eats of this bread. He shall live forever. He shall live forever."
Following the wires seeing that they were partially hidden by the leaf litter of the nearby trees. Seeing that they lead to a small piece of metal sticking out of leaf litter, that was just behind and to the right of where he had first noticed the door and the monofilament.
Reaching into his toolkit for a paintbrush and lightly brushing the leaf litter away. He noticed the electrical fuze and the circular upper piece that told him the device was an OZM series mine, electrically fused.
The OZM series of mine was popularly nicknamed the 'Bouncing Betty' due to the fact that they were designed to pop out of the ground to about a half meter into the air before exploding and shooting fragments all around.
Had he simply pushed in the door the rest of the way the mine would've been set off, killing him most certainly and likely Serge and Lidani too.
Right, now to deal with this. Nace thought.
If he cut a wire he very well could trigger a hidden collapsing circuit and blow himself up anyway. And even if there wasn't a one, he would have to still disarm the mine itself, an easily more complicated matter if there was some form of anti-handling device on it.
Blast in place then. He set his backpack down and pulled out one of the plastic explosive charges in his kit before setting it up alongside the OZM mine, unspooling the firing cable and holding the igniter in his hand.
Retrieving his backpack he moved back the way he came towards his team mates, relaying his information and that the mine was rigged to blow.
He could hear Serge talking on the radio in a low voice and after a delay of a few minutes, knowing Munro was processing the information he heard Serge relaying the command from Munro to blow up the mine.
The three men got behind what cover they could before Nace ignited the explosive charge. A loud boom told him that the charge had done its job, destroying the mine in place.
"And I will raise you up. And I will raise you up. And I will raise you up on the last day."
Sometime later, after two enemy anti-tank rockets and several hundred rounds of ammunition were captured at the shack and destroyed in place by Nace and Serge, the patrol's demolition and EOD specialists, the men returned to base.
"Good work, Bilby." Serge said.
"Had you not pulled a similar trick during the training cycle I might not have caught that." Nace said.
"Hah," Serge gave a great belly laugh, "that bloody siren had the lot of you spooked."
"From the other lads, you're a wanker." Nace said, referring to a prank where Serge had used a similarly wired device connected to a siren when he was conducting a booby trap class for the unit.
"But I still give credit where it is due," Nace said, "Both for you being a wanker and you teaching me even more about booby traps."
