The Army Sappers School graduates infantry savvy, engineer-type, explosive experts, able to grant troops access to wherever they need to go.
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In a 28-training-day course at Fort Leonard Wood sapper students learn demolition, knot-tying, rappelling, urban combat tactics, and they also brush-up their hand-to-hand combat techniques. The training — done straight through without a day off — is so physically demanding that most students will lose at least 10 pounds over the four weeks.
The Military Channel followed Course 05-09 for the three-part feature dubbed "Mission Demolition" and the following slides show the highlights.
Although the Sapper Leader Course was created less than 30 years ago, the concept has been around for centuries.
The term Sapper comes from a French term for digging trenches, and GIs even applied the term to elite Vietcong soldiers in Vietnam.
The castle emblem of the Engineer Branch is a reference to those who protected the buildings from advancing armies.
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