Former Aussie digger digs deep behind the war in Iraq

Sharon Evans Big Sky Publishing – Marketing & Communications, www.bigskypublishing.com.au

About the Author – Barry Stevens

Born in Nambour, Queensland and growing up on a farm in Beerwah author, soldier and explosives expert Barry
Stevens always had a fascination with explosives and weapons and his career ‘blowing things up’ began when he
joined the Australian Army as a young 20 year old. Barry’s army career spanned 22 years – with much of his time
spent in the Infantry Corps and ultimately his dream job in the Pioneers. This is where he learnt the craft of landmine
clearance, demolitions and unexploded ordnance disposal techniques. Barry was instrumental in designing the
Scorpion Landmine Clearance System.

Barry’s experience enabled him to correctly calculate the quantity and placement of explosives on any given target.

He even set up a charge once so small it sheared a rusted wheel stud and rusted nut off the hub off a truck without
damaging anything else. Alternatively he destroyed over 300 ton of captured ammunition in one blast in Iraq.

It was these qualifications and experience that led to his employment with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Captured Enemy Ammunition (CEA) programme in Iraq and much later in charge of land mine clearance operation of
a huge minefield that extended the full length of the northern side of Kabul International Airport in Afghanistan.

Barry lives in Beerwah Queensland and is currently considering what do with the rest of his life post military and post
war work. Finding a job based in Australia that delivers the same adrenalin as his previously EOD positions might be
difficult however – Barry – has decided it’s time ‘this old soldier settles down to do a grown up’s job’.

Organisational Affiliations, Honors, Citations, Prizes, Appointments:

• 1983 Australian Service Medal / South East Asia
• 1989 Brigade Commanders Commendation Medal
• 1998 Divisional Commanders Commendation
• 2000 Australian Long Service Medal
• 2001 Infantry Combat Citation
• 2001 Australian Active Service Medal / East Timor Clasp
• 2001 United Nations Medal
• 2004 Outstanding Performance Award from the U.S. Corps of Engineers during EOD clearance operations in Iraq
• 2 separate Employer commendations for performance during operations in Iraq.
• 2006 Australian Defence Voluntary Service Medal

About the Book

After 22 years in the Army, there was nothing Craig Jackson (CJ)
didn’t know about the deadly craft of bomb detection and disposal.

He was the go-to guy for clearing an area of explosives. So when
he left the military, there was really no choice: his expertise was
rare, sought after, and potentially very lucrative. He’d long ago
learnt to put the danger to one side; now he loved the adrenaline
rush – the exhilaration – of the job, staying cool in the face of death,
outsmarting the murderous and wily bomb-makers.

Craig establishes his own landmine-clearance company, and is soon
catapulted into the thick of the war in Iraq, tasked with disposing
of Saddam Hussein’s massive array of bombs, ammunition and
weapons. This is Craig’s dream job: getting to play with hundreds
of thousands of tons of explosive ordnance, while also doing a bit
of good on the side.

Everything is going smoothly until a typical convoy sortie in the Iraqi
desert turns Craig’s world into a nightmare. Ambushed by a large,
well-armed and organised enemy force, Craig and his colleagues
are taken prisoner by Saddam’s henchmen. Thrust into a nether
world of pain and brutality, all of his thoughts and efforts become
focussed on one thing: staying alive. Disarming a bomb would soon
come to seem like child’s play, as Craig has to draw on every shred
of his mental and physical strength to endure the horrific daily
torture at the hands of his captors.