TRAINING
TRAINING AND CAPACITY BUILDING
Sharing our expert knowledge through short term training missions or longer-term capacity building is a pride and passion of Golden West. Our methods are built upon developing key relationships with local stakeholders at all levels. Tuition methods focus on training our national counterparts so that when we leave, nothing of value goes with us.
To complement and better enable our trainers, Golden West has put in place supporting infrastructure in Cambodia and Vietnam, two countries heavily contaminated by landmines and UXO. These facilities were primarily designed to support in-country national partners; however, Golden West has expanded its use to train ASEAN neighbours and international agencies such as the ICRC.
Golden West’s training has traditionally centred around EOD. However, to meet with demand from partners worldwide, we’ve also developed a robust training capability in PSSM. With these two training sections, Golden West is well placed to ensure safety and proficiency across the spectrum of ammunition handling, storage, and destruction.
Sharing our expert knowledge through short term training missions or longer-term capacity building is a pride and passion of Golden West. Our methods are built upon developing key relationships with local stakeholders at all levels. Tuition methods focus on training our national counterparts so that when we leave, nothing of value goes with us.
To complement and better enable our trainers, Golden West has put in place supporting infrastructure in Cambodia and Vietnam, two countries heavily contaminated by landmines and UXO. These facilities were primarily designed to support in-country national partners; however, Golden West has expanded its use to train ASEAN neighbours and international agencies such as the ICRC.
Golden West’s training has traditionally centred around EOD. However, to meet with demand from partners worldwide, we’ve also developed a robust training capability in PSSM. With these two training sections, Golden West is well placed to ensure safety and proficiency across the spectrum of ammunition handling, storage, and destruction.
ORIGINS
OUR FOUNDER – JOE TROCINO – PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN
Jospeh L. Trocino, President, and Founder of Golden West Humanitarian Foundation has spent years innovating products and services dedicated to the neutralization and disposal of landmines and unexploded ordnance worldwide.
He attended the University of Iowa and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering.
After military service in the U.S. Army working on the Manhattan project, Joe was employed by the University of California’s Los Alamos Laboratory as a Research Chemist; Maytag Company as a Methods Engineer; and the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission as a Research Administrator.
In a joint program with the West German Land Forces, he developed and implemented an anti- Armor Ditching System for NATO. Variations of this system were adopted by other countries for road cratering, bunker breaching, and bridge demolition.
Joe also worked with the private sector, pioneering new techniques and systems for underwater pipeline ditching, wellhead severing, harbor deepening and well production enhancement for the oil and gas industry. He also produced new high-energy fuels and safety standards for the auto racing industry.
It was around this time that Joe started to develop safe and effective binary demolition systems for the disposal of landmines, UXO and live munitions. The Golden West that we know today, was coming into its own.
Under his direction, the Foundation sponsored a new approach to mine awareness education and training in which, people are taught to recognize various “indicators” in realistic settings.
It is Joes legacy of innovation that still drives us today and is at the heart of our mantra:
Saving Lives through innovation.
EXAMPLES OF OUR TRAINING IN ACTION
VIETNAM
International support to deal with the legacies of war in Vietnam are primarily focused on clearance given the scale of contamination remaining. Golden West bolsters this effort by providing training and sharing new technologies with international and national agencies alike to improve safety and efficiency in operations.
In addition, our approach incorporates a ‘downrange’ element to develop a sustainable, national resource by working with Provincial Military Command’s (PMC’s) who will be tasked to conduct remaining clearance once international support concludes. While Golden West’s footprint on the ground is small, our long-term impact will be significant and sustained.
CAMBODIA
Golden West’s EOD orientated capacity building in Cambodia began back in 2005; however, our PSSM capacity building commenced much later in 2014. Since then, working with the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), Golden West has destroyed over 80 tons of obsolete and unserviceable munitions, quickly improving facilities’ safety across the Kingdom.
In parallel, Golden West built relations with RCAF’s Technical Military Academy and together developed a new SOP for national ammunition management. To ensure sustainability, a cadre of eight RCAF Instructors have also been tutored by Golden West to ensure international standards and best practices are maintained over time.
SOLOMON ISLANDS
Rural communities in the Solomon Islands are regularly discovering dangerous items of UXO left over from World War Two. Golden West worked to support the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) in developing a homegrown and sustainable EOD capability training and mentoring a total of 8 Officers.
Today, long after Golden West completed this capacity-building project, the RSIPF continues to conduct UXO collection and destruction safely and efficiently for communities they protect and serve.
PERU
Blending Golden West’s EOD and PSSM training capabilities, our Technical Advisors worked closely with the Peruvian Army to identify, move, and destroy obsolete and unserviceable munitions held in national stockpiles. This mission was completed within a limited timeframe with 33 Army students trained in Demolition Range Safety/Operation, and over 32,000 pieces of ordnance were destroyed – equivalent to 28 tons.
Golden West has undertaken numerous missions such as this. With capability and equipment positioned across the globe, we can move swiftly to assist partner nations.
PSSM Physical Stockpile and Security Mgmt
GOLDEN WEST DELIVERS MANAGERIAL, MENTORSHIP, AND SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTISE TO OUR PARTNERS AROUND THE WORLD
The cornerstone of Golden West’s PSSM program is training and mentorship. This is provided at both the provincial level and the more sustainable level via a train-the-trainer program in partnership with Military Technical Academies.
The goals of the PSSM program are to enhance the safety and security of munitions stockpiles. Rather than merely concentrating on quick fixes, Golden West advocates a holistic approach to ensuring sustainable measures are supported. Golden West can provide subject-matter-expertise in updating current National Regulations on Ammunition and Explosives, support in developing curriculum and train-the-trainer programs, ammunition through-life management planning, along with the provision of project management and technical advice for infrastructure enhancements.
Currently, Golden West is conducting the full spectrum of PSSM activities with partner-nations in Albania, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Cambodia.
Our partnerships allow us to share ‘real-time’ experience and perspectives from the ground while also laterally being a bridge for information, advisory, and donor engagement flow back to the recipient partner nations to ensure momentum for development is maintained as a one-team effort.
Golden West’s approach has been recognized by other international leaders in the field. We have supported the UN Office of Disarmament Affairs (UNDOA) through the Geneva Centre for Humanitarian Disarmament (GICHD) Ammunition Management Advisory Team (AMAT) with the provision of SME directing staff in the IATG verification exercise to “qualify” IATG SME’s in future deployments for the UN. This has led to a solid and professional partnership with AMAT, to which Golden West is a member of the AMAT Advisory Council and the IATG Review Board Strategic Coordination Group.
Our success is in really understanding that national ownership is essential and that each country has different needs, capabilities, and capacities. All the countries we work with do have a sincere commitment to strengthening their ability to protect their civilian population and increase their national and regional security. This only encourages Golden West to remain committed to supporting their PSSM needs and being a catalyst for positive change.
EXPLOSIVE HARVESTING PROGRAM
Golden West’s Explosive Harvesting Program (EHP) a grant-based operation provided by the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) and the U.S. Humanitarian Demining Research and Development Program (HDR&D) with an overall goal to produce high-quality main charge explosives, in Cambodia, for use in humanitarian mine action operations.
The Golden West Humanitarian Foundation has produced and supplied more than 500,000 explosive charges to the Cambodian Mine Action Centre over the years. These charges are distributed across Cambodia to destroy land mines and unexploded ordnance. The U.S. Government supports Golden West and other mine-clearance organizations, to address our own war legacy issues in Cambodia and to clean up mines left by other countries and actors.
QUICK REACTION FORCE
The Quick Reaction Force (QRF) serve as PM/WRA’s first responders to unexpected CWD-related emergencies across the globe, including munitions depot explosions, ammunition depots at risk of imminent explosion, and ERW that pose significant threats to civilians. These situations require immediate action to secure or dispose of poorly secured or unstable munitions, prevent loss of life, protect critical infrastructure, and conduct needs assessments for further CWD activities. The QRF can begin to respond to these threats worldwide in as few as 48 hours.
PUBLIC SAFETY
Golden West works with civilian, police and militaries around the world to improve safety and efficiency in bomb disposal and the management of arms and ammunition.
As Foreign Service and development actors around the world know only too well, there is no peace without security. Such is the cross-cutting nature of EOD, PSSM, HMA, and Public Safety. Golden West interacts with police forces from the Solomon Islands up to Iceland, providing training and discussing new tools and techniques to improve safety and build skillsets.
Golden West can provide police forces with training ranging from basic EOD through to more nuanced courses such as post-blast investigation/evidence collection, case management, and investigative techniques.
PRODUCT : MODS (Mobile ordnance Disposal System)
MOBILE ORDNANCE DISPOSAL SYSTEM (MODS) (patent pending)
Mods is a highly specialized version of the golden west mobile cutting system (mcs), designed for use in complex render safe and exploitation applications by expert eod operators trained in mods operation and maintenance. The mods kit includes the non- explosive disposal system (neds)™ which is a thermal torch component of the mods tool set.
Golden West developed MODS in response to a need by top tier EOD operators for a tool to take on very complex render safe procedures and enable exploitation of first-seen munitions by selectively separating electronics and energetics. MODS meets demand signal requirements for air/sea/land transportation by specific modes. MODS is manufactured and sold by Heartland Technologies LLC in Kansas City, MO USA
Golden West developed MODS in response to a need by top tier EOD operators for a tool to take on very complex render safe procedures and enable exploitation of first-seen munitions by selectively separating electronics and energetics. MODS meets demand signal requirements for air/sea/land transportation by specific modes. MODS is manufactured and sold by Heartland Technologies LLC in Kansas City, MO USA
GOLDEN WEST MOBILE CUTTING SYSTEM (MCS)©
The mcs is a fully transportable remotely operated system for rendering ordnance safe by cutting the fuze from explosive body saving time, money, and the environment
Golden West’s team developed the Mobile Cutting System (MCS) as an alternative to waterjet cutting techniques and as a permutation of the Foundation’s Explosive Harvesting Program, enabling safe and reliable render safe and disposal of a wide range of explosive filled munitions. This system allows us to safely mitigate explosive hazards without the inherent risk of low order techniques or open detonations. MCS is cost-effective system that can be used effectively to dispose of unwanted ordnance without the devastating environmental damage caused by unnecessary open detonations.
The MCS was designed by Golden West experts, who understand that field ordnance disposal systems must be highly portable to be effective. The MCS is easy for EOD teams to transport by truck, trailer or ATV. Deployment time is rapid, with setup time normally taking one hour.
A heavy-duty bandsaw modified with additional cooling features can easily accommodate ordnance up to an MK84 bomb. More than 23,000 different types of ordnance items can be cut by MCS. This includes bombs, submunitions, landmines, and more. A versatile and valuable tool, MCS can support disposal of projectiles ranging between 25mm and 175mm in diameter.
As developers of the MCS, Golden West is arguably the most qualified to conduct training and to certify qualified operators. With our thousands of safe cuts and decades of cutting experience, Golden West is eminently qualified and prepared to take the lead in MCS training and assisting with programmatic and government level MCS operating standards development.
Golden West’s team developed the Mobile Cutting System (MCS) as an alternative to waterjet cutting techniques and as a permutation of the Foundation’s Explosive Harvesting Program, enabling safe and reliable render safe and disposal of a wide range of explosive filled munitions. This system allows us to safely mitigate explosive hazards without the inherent risk of low order techniques or open detonations. MCS is cost-effective system that can be used effectively to dispose of unwanted ordnance without the devastating environmental damage caused by unnecessary open detonations.
The MCS was designed by Golden West experts, who understand that field ordnance disposal systems must be highly portable to be effective. The MCS is easy for EOD teams to transport by truck, trailer or ATV. Deployment time is rapid, with setup time normally taking one hour.
A heavy-duty bandsaw modified with additional cooling features can easily accommodate ordnance up to an MK84 bomb. More than 23,000 different types of ordnance items can be cut by MCS. This includes bombs, submunitions, landmines, and more. A versatile and valuable tool, MCS can support disposal of projectiles ranging between 25mm and 175mm in diameter.
As developers of the MCS, Golden West is arguably the most qualified to conduct training and to certify qualified operators. With our thousands of safe cuts and decades of cutting experience, Golden West is eminently qualified and prepared to take the lead in MCS training and assisting with programmatic and government level MCS operating standards development.
