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Britain's top bomb disposal officer reveals his fears about the pressure staff shortages are putting his elite teams under at the very forefront of the war in Afghanistan in tonight's Panorama: A Very British Hero, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One, 8.30pm.

The revelations from Colonel Bob Seddon, Principal Ammunition Technical Officer of the Royal Logistic Corps, come in an interview with Christina Schmid, the widow of Staff Sergeant Olaf "Oz" Schmid.

Oz Schmid, 30, died on 31 October last year while defusing a Taliban IED – Improvised Explosive Device – on his third call-out of the day. He was one of four of our top bomb disposal experts to be killed in Afghanistan in little more than a year.

In a special authored report for Panorama, Christina Schmid questions whether the Army has failed in its duty of care to this tiny elite band of soldiers.

Colonel Seddon, her husband's boss, tells her of his efforts to get his High Threat teams up to strength and of his ongoing fears for Oz's colleagues.

Colonel Seddon says: "I am very concerned as their head of trade at the pressures that they are facing in Afghanistan. We are seeking now to bring people back into High Threat IED operations that have been out for some time. We are looking at more senior officers becoming involved in this. We've broadened our training and selection but it will take some time before these measures can come into play. And what it does mean is, it means the existing cohort are going to be under pressure."

He adds: "I certainly think we could do with more High Threat teams and IED operators in Afghanistan."

He also says: "I'm very concerned that in the longer term that some of my people who have done phenomenally difficult and dangerous work in Afghanistan may pay a deeper psychological price for the work that they've conducted. We're about to kick off a more detailed study looking at the psychological impact of these operations because we have a duty of care. We owe it to these people to do the best we can."

High Threat bomb disposal teams tackle the IEDs which have become the Taliban's weapon of choice. They are the Army's most highly trained bomb disposal experts. It takes at least six years to qualify as a High Threat IED operator and their role is vital: British soldiers in Afghanistan are three times more likely to be killed by an IED explosion than by gunfire.

Reading from her husband's letters, written during his five and a half month tour of duty and recalling his phone calls home, Christina says: "He basically said it was absolutely relentless – that they weren't getting a break at all and that the amount of IEDs that he was doing, that he was asked to do, was just overwhelming".

She says Oz told her he was routinely defusing 10 to 15 IED devices on each callout. The Army says he attended 64 such callouts during his tour of duty.

Oz Schmid died on what was due to be his last day of active service in Afghanistan before returning home. Now, his widow is left wondering whether fatigue played a part in his death.

Christina says Oz had made it plain to her he was exhausted: "He was flaking at that point saying 'I do need a break from this. I need to step back because I need to recharge' and I don't feel that he necessarily had that time."

Asked if the Army's guidelines governing rest breaks and lengths of tours of duty had been broken, the MoD said in a statement: "Unfortunately at a time of high operational commitment, breaches of harmony guidelines do occur but we are taking steps to address the situation."

When Oz was deployed to Afghanistan, the High Threat IED disposal teams were under increased pressure because they were 40 per cent under strength. While making the programme, Christina Schmid discovered one reason for this was a decision taken by senior military chiefs in 2002 to halt the training programme for High Threat IED operators altogether.

It was 18 months before that decision was reversed and the training programme restarted. As it takes a minimum of six years to train to High Threat IED operator standard, the teams remain under strength.

Christina also learned from a senior military officer during the course of making the programme that at the start of the war in Afghanistan, only "limited consideration" was given to the threat of IEDs. The MoD said in a statement to the programme it "could not reasonably have been expected to predict" the surge in their use.

The intense heat in Afghanistan of up to 50 degrees Celsius means the High Threat IED operators often work without their protective bomb suits which are heavy, hot and cumbersome. They may spend hours at a time working in the heat of the day, carrying out fingertip searches for devices they then have to make safe: all this, while often being fired on by the Taliban fighters who have singled them out as important potential targets.

Extracts from Oz Schmid's letters which are featured in the programme describe the extreme conditions and the constant danger:

"I've already been living rough for five weeks in compounds we clear under the Afghan canopy..."

"Staying alive is like a lottery and patrolling the Afghan badlands is playing Russian Roulette with your feet..."

"Dealing with bombs is the easy bit. It's the getting shot at while doing the job which tends to make me run like hell..."

In a bid to attract former High Threat IED operators back to the service and to help ease the shortage, the Army is offering a £50,000 payment to those top operators willing to sign on for another tour of duty in Afghanistan.

In A Very British Hero, Christina Schmid reveals that her decision to wear her husband's medals and clap his coffin when it was brought back to Wootton Bassett fulfilled a promise to Oz that, if he died, she would show only her pride in public, not her grief.

She says: "I remember having the conversation with Oz when he phoned me really late at night... and said: 'You'd better be there when I'm there. I don't want my wife standing there, you know, in bits on the floor. I want you to be absolutely proud of me and how hard I've worked and I want you to be able to stand there and be appreciative and show your love for me, and be as positive as you can about what I've achieved and what I've done.'"

Panorama: A Very British Hero – an authored report by Christina Schmid is on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One at 8.30pm tonight.

LZ