Terry Grant, star of the Science Channel reality series Mantracker, helps to train soldiers of Britain's 7th Armoured Brigade on the Canadian Prairies.
The British military has hired the star of a Canadian reality-TV show to teach its soldiers tracking techniques that they can use to spot signs of improvised explosive devices when they deploy to Afghanistan.
A group of British soldiers trained earlier in Alberta earlier this summer with Terry Grant, who stars in the popular show Mantracker, in which a pair of contestants try to outrun Mr. Grant as he chases them over vast stretches of Canadian wilderness on horseback using his tracking skills.
Mr. Grant, who has also worked as a cowboy, big game guide and search and rescue volunteer, spent two days imparting his knowledge of ground awareness skills to soldiers of the 7th Armoured Brigade, otherwise known as the Desert Rats. It's the latest move by the British army to stem troop losses from the hidden roadside bombs, which were responsible for 80 of the 108 deaths the British military suffered in Afghanistan in 2009.
"It's really not about finding IEDs, it's about being track aware," Mr. Grant said. "It's about being able to look at the road in front of you and being able to recognize human footprints versus animal footprints versus no footprints."
When an insurgent lays down an IED, telltale signs are left behind either in the form of ground disturbed by burying the device or tracks left by the insurgent, according to the British Ministry of Defence website.
Mr. Grant set up a training course with different tracks and trails for the soldiers at British Army Training Unit Suffield, located at Canadian Forces Base Suffield in southern Alberta.
He trained four groups of about 10 soldiers each in sessions lasting four to five hours, with each group looking at a different set of tracks.
Mr. Grant, who has spent a lifetime honing his wilderness skills, said the troops learned enough in several hours to give them a leg up when they start their standard six-week tracking course.
"The brigadier-general did a debrief with them afterwards, and every one of them enjoyed what they learned," he said.
"If it helps one guy then it's worthwhile," said Mr. Grant, who spoke by phone Tuesday from a lodge in the South Chilcotin Mountains in British Columbia as he prepared to film an episode of his show.
One soldier, 23-year-old Private Rikkie Jennings, was quoted by the Ministry of Defence as saying: "I've never done anything like this before and I am sure it will be useful in Afghanistan. It was difficult to see at first but we soon got the hang of it."
Mr. Grant taught the course as an unpaid volunteer. The British military said it is reviewing the idea to see whether it should be developed further. The Desert Rats are scheduled to ship out to Afghanistan in October.
The Desert Rats' chief of staff, Major Richard Bell, came up with the idea of having Mr. Grant teach his ground awareness searching techniques to the soldiers after he saw an episode of Mantracker on television.
On a typical episode of Mantracker, contestants are paired up and given a map, a compass and a head start. They've got 36 hours to make it on foot to a finish line about 40 kilometres away without being caught by Mr. Grant, who is following on horseback but is not equipped with navigational aids and does not know their starting point.
The show, which is broadcast on the Outdoor Life Network, enters its fifth season in September.
Special to The Globe and Mail