Bomb Disposal Soldier awarded George Cross

[RoyalGreenJacket]

A British Soldier who has cleared more roadside bombs than anyone else in history is among scores of UK service personnel being honoured for gallantry.



Warrant Officer Class 2 Karl Ley from 11 Ordinance Disposal Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps received the George Medal for his actions. The 29 year old from Sheffield defused more bombs that anyone else in history, many without the back up of a protective suit or robot.

He made safe 139 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted by the Taliban during a tour of Helmand Province in Afghanistan.

During one operation, which lasted 72 hours, he defused 42 IED's, 28 of which were victim-operated IEDs, 14 of those during a nine hour period in which he came under enemy fire.

Read more here: www.bbc.co.uk/WO2Ley



he has no doubt saved many Coalition and Afghan lives and prevented countless injuries.

well done fella, good drills

[hedgehog]

His knowledge of IED's and such must be phenomenal,

is there not a bit of a risk to him by publishing his name etc,

during the ira's murderous campaign, ATO's were a very secretive bunch.

He must have balls of steel and balls the size of dolly partons tits

[pmtts]

One of my customers who is a serving ATO, recently was awarded the QGM for bravery in Afghanistan.

Capt Owers defused 93 devices during his 6 month tour. One IED every two days.

Hat's off to these men, the cry of fetch Felix still rings out!

[RoyalGreenJacket]

it's a different ball game now Hedgie - although we have plenty of 'homegrown' Islamic terrorists in the UK they have so far concentrated on much softer targets.

going after one particular soldier isn't their MO and his own personal safety (and all of ours) is constantly under review so i guess he is pretty safe and can lead a relatively normal life while still gaining credit and recognition for his achievements.

and you are right PMTTS - these are remarkable and very modest men to whom many of us owe so much.

[hedgehog]

it's a different ball game now Hedgie - although we have plenty of 'homegrown' Islamic terrorists in the UK they have so far concentrated on much softer targets.

going after one particular soldier isn't their MO and his own personal safety (and all of ours) is constantly under review so i guess he is pretty safe and can lead a relatively normal life while still gaining credit and recognition for his achievements.

and you are right PMTTS - these are remarkable and very modest men to whom many of us owe so much.

That would be my fear RGJ

in that the bad guys would change there tactics-

there are enough of their followers in the UK.

Still it takes a very very brave kind of person to do that type of work.

[RoyalGreenJacket]

That would be my fear RGJ

in that the bad guys would change there tactics-

there are enough of their followers in the UK.

Still it takes a very very brave kind of person to do that type of work.

it's about risk management.

they were dark days when we couldn't wear our own uniform in public in the UK because of the threat of Irish terrorism and i'd hate to go back to that.

the risk has been calculated that it's still safe to do things how we do now and it is good.

if anyone watched the Millies on Friday you would see many other such brave men and women.

until that day when things may change for us - i'm happy to celebrate the achievements of outstanding soldiers like this.

[DeV]

going after one particular soldier isn't their MO

They were planning to kidnap a soldier in the UK and behead him don't forget!

[hptmurphy]

A twenty nine year old Warrant officer.......with a George medal..some career.

Well done that man.

[RoyalGreenJacket]

They were planning to kidnap a soldier in the UK and behead him don't forget!

that was a one off plan that our Secret Services had infiltrated anyhow, whereas with the Irish terrorist attacks against the UK Armed Forces on UK soil was a regular occurrence.

A twenty nine year old Warrant officer.......with a George medal..some career.

Well done that man.

indeed, lets hope he manages to complete his 22 without incident, although i know he intends to return to Afghanistan and defuse his 200th device.

even if / when he is commissioned he is liable for EOD duties as an operator on the front line.

for one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, this is a hell of a lot of time on the coalface.

[Hello Alaska]

EOD folk really do have balls of steel.

As for Karl Ley... Warrant Officer and a George Medal before hitting 30 speaks for itself really doesn't it?


I tip my hat to him and those like him.

[Goldie fish]

Fantastic profile inside the Back Cover of An Cosantoir of one of our EoD technicians. I see from PQs that the EoD have been called out 197 times so far in 2010 alone.