1:57pm Wednesday 3rd March 2010
Worried soldiers in Afghanistan had to ask for their own mine detection training and practised finding explosives in a "sand pit", an inquest into the death of a Brighton soldier was told.
The "concerned" troops hunted out an expert on base who passed on his knowledge of metal detectors in the months before an explosion which killed special forces Corporal Sean Robert Reeve, 28, and three comrades in June 2008.
A private in a nearby vehicle in Lashkar Gah that day revealed he at first received only a "20-30 minutes" briefing, without actually handling an Ebex metal detector.
The witness - identified as Soldier K for security reasons - said: "We received a briefing and watched a demonstration but had no hands-on (training) with an Ebex.
"When I got to theatre (of war) after about three weeks some Ebexes were supplied to use. We didn't have any training on them. I didn't personally have any hands-on.
"Later on in the tour in Lashkar Gah we were concerned with our lack of training and spoke to an explosives specialist, who was based at the same camp as us, who organised some training for us."
Coroner David Masters asked: "You requested that he arrange hands-on training?"
The soldier explained: "He (the expert) had a kind of lane, like a sand pit where you could bury objects and practise detecting them. Things like that. We also arranged official training back at Camp Bastion, which we undertook, at the same time, about four months into the tour."
Soldier K continued: "We had to request it. It didn't happen until April. It didn't happen on our reception training."
Despite the lack of lessons in using metal detectors to find IEDs (improvised explosive devices), Soldier K said the threat they posed was widely seen as "high".
The coroner asked: "Did you consider that you had satisfactory training in Barma drills (mine detecting drills) with the Ebex (metal detector).
"No, Sir," he answered.
Was the training better at Camp Bastion four months later, the coroner asked.
Soldier K said: "I was happy with the training in April. That was good training."
Cpl Reeve, from Patcham, Brighton, a TA special forces soldier of the Royal Signals was killed while taking part in an operation east of Lashkar Gah when his Snatch Land Rover was hit by a mine on June 17 2008.
He died with Corporal Sarah Bryant, of the Intelligence Corps, Lance Corporal Richard Larkin, 39, and Trooper Paul Stout, 31.
The back wheel of their vehicle hit a pressure-plated improvised explosive device (IED) hidden in a ditch.
They were in the Land Rover with a fifth soldier, the only survivor, known as Soldier E, who was sat in the passenger seat.
On Tuesday Soldier E, the fifth man in Cpl Bryant's vehicle and the sole survivor, claimed the lightly armoured Snatch Land Rover was "not adequate for the job".
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