By Tim Barlass
The 200-kilogram bomb was armed with acoustic and seismic detectors, making any noise or vibration deadly. Even worse, attached magnetic devices could detect something as small as the metal eyelet of an approaching boot.
On this day in Iraq in 2003, chief petty officer Gavin Stevens was the man wearing those boots.
Former Australian Navy Chief Petty Officer clearance diver Gavin Stevens, recipient of the Medal for Gallantry.Credit: Kate Geraghty
Stevens was initially awarded the Commendation for Distinguished Service for his work that day commanding a tactical explosive ordnance disposal patrol on the Al-Faw peninsula in the south of Iraq.
However, this week the former navy clearance diver had the decoration upgraded to the Medal for Gallantry (the third-highest decoration for heroic courage in action) after a review of his actions during Operation Falconer in Iraq. It is the 66th such medal to be awarded.
Stevens’ patrol spotted the suspected aerial bomb, which had been modified to act as a mine, lying in a dried-out flood plain. It was a “DST” Destructor 80 Series bomb designed to cause maximum damage.
Because of the risk it posed to locals, or even a low-flying helicopter from which he said it could be detonated by the rotor wash, the decision was made to deal with it then and there. This was long before the advent of robotic devices enabling bombs to be detonated remotely.
Wearing only his shirt, Gavin Stevens approaches the destructor bomb (to his left) to place a disposal charge.
“I told my command I was going to proceed and neutralise it,” Stevens said. “I was going to place a counter charge close to it to basically blow it up.”
Stevens first walked fully clothed with a flak jacket and helmet to within 30 metres of the device, sweeping with a metal detector as he went in case of landmines, to inspect and photograph it. He had two plastic explosives weighing two kilograms each under his arm to position next to the bomb to blow it up but then realised there were fuses, which they hadn’t seen from a distance, and he immediately retreated.
“Normally, the risk of setting off the device from any metal in clothing would be checked with a machine to measure the magnetic signature of the person,” he explained. “We didn’t have one so that’s why I took everything off. I took off my trousers, boots, all of my armour, dog tag, watch, basically everything I was wearing apart from a T-shirt.”
Gavin Stevens at a wharf at Umm Qasr, southern Iraq, on March 7, 2003.Credit: Kate Geraghty
So what’s going through his mind as he approaches the bomb? “Just the procedures I had to go through to be honest. I am not aware of anyone having walked in on one of these [particular] devices before. I was aware of what I had to do. You have to move a different way. There’s a method of walking on [towards] the device so that you don’t wake up parts of the mine. You walk, make another movement then stop. Then walk again, then stop.
“I had made out enough detonating cord that would get me a safe enough distance back without having to do any more movements in the proximity [of the bomb]. I placed the explosives within, from memory, about one centimetre of the item.”
He then retreated in the same slow, measured way, unwinding the detonating cord [flexible plastic tube filled with explosive] as he went and then connected the firing circuit. A remote detonator is then connected to the end of the cord so that it can be set off remotely from a safe distance. He then got on the radio and called in a Land Rover to move his platoon away.
Asked if he believed it was his most dangerous mission, he answered: “The job, I suppose, is always challenging, whether it be diving in tricky locations or playing with unexploded bombs, booby traps or IEDs [improvised explosive devices] and I suppose that’s why you have got to try your best.”
After the detonation the patrol carried on working on other devices through the afternoon. In his three-month deployment to Iraq, he estimates he dealt with “many hundreds” of devices.
He had joined the Australian Navy at the age of 19 and then had his two brothers in the army as bomb disposal experts. “It caused my parents a few grey hairs,” he said.
He was initially recommended by his command for the Medal for Gallantry, but it was knocked back in Canberra to the lesser Commendation for Distinguished Service.
The upgrade was recommended by the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal and has been gazetted so that Stevens could receive the medal with a distinctive orange ribbon and wear it at a dawn service on Anzac Day on Thursday. NSW Governor Margaret Beazley will be investing Stevens at Government House next month.
Gavin Stevens holds his medals including the Medal for Gallantry (orange ribbon).Credit: Kate Geraghty
Rear Admiral Jonathan Earley, RAN, Deputy Chief of Navy said: “On behalf of the men and women of the Royal Australian Navy, we are immensely proud of the actions of chief petty officer Gavin Stevens. His selfless courage in the service of our nation has assured the safety of others, and is an example of the wonderful Australians we have serving in our navy.”
Stevens said: “I will be very proud. I am honoured and grateful to receive it. It reflects on everyone in the patrol and on navy and navy divers.”
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