Hi D.J.,
It’s been eons since I watched the Danger UXB episodes—your posted encouraged me to buy the series on DVD and watch it again…lol—but the technical details were mostly accurate, albeit some aspects sexed up and others downplayed. Bit ambiguous reply right?
The early years of BD were brutal in terms of the learning curves for the field and tragically many lives were lost in that process. Many practices still in effect today resulted from those lessons learnt that cost men their lives.
For example, early in the war newspapers innocently published we were able to defeat (i.e., render safe) some German bombs and also how we did it. The Germans consequently learnt this and subsequently began installing anti-removal/handling devices that targeted BD and killed many men until we realised what the Germans knew and had done. From that point forward, ordnance render safe procedures (RSPs) became secret (i.e., classified) information.
Another example is the two-person rule—we always minimally worked in pairs. One technician would perform the work whilst another technician observed from a safe distance. The reason behind this rule is that if a weapon detonates and kills the technician working on the device, the observing technician can report what procedures were performed up until the blast. That reporting then can allow engineers or etc. to evaluate if possible design changes were made to a weapon, the viability of a RSP protocol, and etc. This rule enabled us to figure out during WWII, often at the cost of men’s lives, when, for example, the Germans modified weapons specifically to kill BD personnel.
To this day, it still is very much a cat and mouse game between EOD and weapons makers (be it government-made ordnance or rouge-made improvised explosive devices (IEDs)).
Another aspect of the field that comes and goes is photographing EOD technicians. At various times since WWII, EOD technicians have not been permitted to have their photographs and names published or etc. This practice was common during the Cold War—EOD technicians are rich intelligence sources about how weapon systems work and etc. They also are prime targets; for instance, Al Qaeda in Iraq offered monetary bounties for killing us…we were bad for their IED business!
A bit long-winded post—I hope I kind of answered your questions DJ!
Jay