When Lance Corporal Doug Shellcot was told a piece of rubbish would be treated as a ‘mine’, he knew something had to change.
He’d been patrolling with his section on a promotion course when directing staff declared the rubbish would trigger a mine-response scenario.
This was at odds with his training, which was to recognise actual mines and respond accordingly.
There were also limitations on the inert mines his home unit used for training – sappers were so familiar with them, they worked from memory instead of drills.
“They’re no longer identifying and going through the [full drills]. They’re able to look at something and say, ‘That’s the Q store’s RPG-7, I’ve seen it 100 times’,” Lance Corporal Shellcot said.
This sent Lance Corporal Shellcot on a two-year journey to gain approval to produce 3D-printed replica mines and…
