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This is the front gates of the Humanitarian Demining Centre. The training centre is in Eichmadzien which has the oldest orthodox church in Armenia dated 14th century.

The inconspicuous explosives locker.... well camouflaged as the Union Jack and the Puerto Rican flags

Here is the mine display in Ray's office... some of the mines that are found here

More of the mines... these are used for training purposes along with 40 different mines laid in the training area outside

Most of the mines found here are left over from the soviet era with some Italian and some locally produced mines... most of which are used in a defensive role (still being laid)

Proposed site for base camp
The base camp has to be a min of 100 metres from the minefield and still be close enough for medical support and supplies. This is where they will spend their time until the minefield is cleared... in tents for up to 6 months... coming back to the city only for supplies or during breaks.

The first tent
Tents are erected to sleep 10. There are 63 members of the demining unit, including medics, logistics and deminers

The office: Ray and Luis' office and accommodation

Deminers: Two of the section commanders (team leaders). In this case there were 10 teams of 2 dog teams, 2 resting teams and 6 working teams. Each team had 8 members and 2 worked lanes (one safety and one deminer)

Demining team: This is team 2 in the safe area. The safe area is a minimum of 25 metres from the minefield boundary and it is where the deminers rest, repair, and maintain equipment. There were 6 teams in this instance. The number and size of teams depends on weather conditions, personal fatigue and stress, and the size of the minefield.

Ray and the survey team at Ijevan
Before they go into the field they have to survey the minefield and mark it out. In the background you can see the bombed and mined village that they would be working in.

Setting up the Mine Dog Section: They use dogs to detect mines in the field. The dogs detect by sensing the vapour given off by the different types of mines. Once the dog indicates the presence of a mine, one of the deminers steps forward to deal with the mine. The dogs can only be used on level ground (or a slight incline) with the right wind conditions but they are effective and very useful

Bridge of Death
This bridge had to be reinforced before they could get the vehicles across to start work. The river could not be forded because it had drop off places 20 ft deep. It was full of trout though :)

Another view of the bridge
The red mark indicates the start point for the minefield area. The whole area in the background is minefield. These are specially trained 'mine detecting cows' :)

Luis at work
Luis is marking the direction and number of the minefield. Ray says that if you give a 'Puerto Rican' a can of spray paint they can't resist writing graffiti on the walls...

The bridge
This photo shows the instability of the bridge which had to be crossed daily. It got so bad that they had to spend from 1am to 6am reinforcing the bridge with rail supports carried from an old set of railway tracks 1/2 km away

Training area
On all demining sites they have set up a training area used when there is an incident or new demining techniques are employed - also at down-times when the minefield cannot be worked or just because the deminer wants to practice. This training area is utilized every day prior to the deminers entering the minefield for detector checks.

Training minefield
Deminer working on probing techniques (they do have non-fused mines in this field)

Preparation on minefield

Ray
minefield in the background... he is taking a break... note the name badges.."Scouse Rowlands" and "Bomb Disposal"... Soviet requirement

Ray in the field
Ray found the mine. They are all blown in place (destroyed)

Can you see the mine?
Not all mines are visible and the terrain can be very rough and unforgiving... there IS a mine in this picture

Ray in the field
Ray probing on a soviet made mine. The reason they probe for mines is to estimate size and depth

Deminer
Deminers work a 1 metre wide lane, each deminer separated by a 25 metre to 50 metre safety distance (depending on mine type) - You can see in this picture how close he has hand-trimmed his lane looking for mines. This procedure goes on until he has completed a 25 metre square box (in this case to utilize mine dogs). In most cases manual demining is done in 10 metre square boxes

Demining
Excavating towards a mine-like contact

Demining
The deminer seen here has a painstaking operation of cutting down the grass to 2 cm always being aware of trip wires and mine fuses. In the foreground is an old fence post which is rebar lined and causes problems when using the detectors. In this case it is all probe work

Village hillside
This is taken from the minefield looking down onto the river. All this area was suspected of having mines throughout

Ray and Artur
They had just come out of the minefield. Artur was trained in survey by Ray and is a warrant officer in the Armenian Army

The minefield from hell
This is the western slope of the hill. All the brambles had to be cut down by hand before the search could start. The building also had to be searched.

Luis in the field
Luis has discovered and is probing for a mine which he will excavate, id, and destroy

Ray and Luis with some medics
They have 3 medics and a doctor on site at all times. These are provided by the Armenian army with a fantastic pay scale of $20/month for the doctor and $15/month for the medics

Ray in the field
'nuver mine... they are first found with a mine detector (looks like a metal detector) and then they back off 20 cm and start to excavate it to id the type

Ray and Luis
Out of the minefield for a smoke.

Some of the deminers

Safety Deminer
All deminers working in the field have a number 2 deminer (safety) who watches the deminer's every move. After a 30 min period (depending on weather conditions) the deminers change over.

Second Lane
Back of a deminer working a second lane. You can see a second deminer working ahead. In this instance, at a minimum safety distance of 25 metres because they were dealing solely with anti-personnel mines.