Grafenwoehr, Germany (Nov. 21, 2016) -- Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment and the 978th Military Police Company, completed the VMR2 Minehound Hand-Held Detector Course in Vilseck, Germany, November 18.
The Combined Arms Training Center's (CATC) five-day course trained the Soldiers to properly setup and use the VMR2 Dual Sensor Detector.
The VMR2 Dual Sensor Detector is a light-weight, hand-held metal detector combined with a ground penetrating radar (GPR) that detects metal-free mines and improvised explosive devices (IED). The VMR2 is highly sensitive and alarms the user through a visual bar-graph and an audio signal.
"The most casualty producing weapon today is still the IED," said Sgt. First Class James Crowe, a course manager at CATC. "The enemy knows that we can find an IED with a regular metal detector, so they started making IEDs without any metallic components."
"The VMR2 Minehound eliminates the enemy's ability to hide metallic and nonmetallic IEDs on the battlefield," said Terry Perez, the primary instructor of the course.
In combination with the GPR capability, a trained VMR2 operator can be an advantage to the fighting force.
The course, not specific to a certain military occupational specialty, consisted of classroom instruction followed by hands-on practical exercises focused on detecting buried metallic and non-metallic hazards.
The students were able to identify an IED on a tactical lane and provide coaching to their peers on proper sweeping techniques.
In order for the students to receive certification on the employment and usage of the VMR2, they were required to pass a written exam and test their knowledge by applying the skills they learned in a demonstration and a lane performance test.
The demonstration challenged the students to brief their classmates on how to put the VMR2 into operation. The lane test required the students to find nine out of ten targets on the tactical search lanes in order to meet certification criteria.
"If there's an object in the ground and a properly trained VMR2 operator is searching for it, they will find it," said Crowe.
For more information on the course visit the CATC's page at http://www.eur.army.mil/7ATC/CATC.html.
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