Talon improves security with body scanner

Photo By Staff Sgt. Ruth Pagan | Pfc. Gerardo Montemayor, an infantryman with Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, operates the SmartCheck Image Module Personnel Scanning System, July 31. The body scanner takes three images of the subject, a front, back and type of x-ray view. The operator must determine if the subject has any hazardous foreign objects and if a body search is necessary.  

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN

07.30.2011

Story by Sgt. Ruth Pagan 

2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Soldiers with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, went through a class July 30 for a piece of machinery that will make the Afghan National Civil Order Police Brigade Headquarters safer.

“The [SmartCheck image module personnel scanning system] is like the scanner they have at the airport,” said 1st Lt. Eric Adelsberger, the executive officer for HHC, 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, adding: “Only these take three images: front, back and side.”

Although the soldiers have been working with a vehicle cargo scanner, Joshua Brice, a field service engineer with Cargo Security Management Incorporated, was brought in to give them a more in-depth class on the body scanner, said Adelsberger.

The class taught soldiers how to operate the scanner, how to direct personnel within the machine and how to read the results of the scans.

“It’s cool because you can see everything a person might try to hide,” said Pfc. Aaron McComas, an infantryman with HHC, 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, who attended the class.

The machine can detect weapons, drugs and bomb making materials as well as anything not organic to the human body, Brice said.

Some objects may be harder to detect and that is why there are three views, said Adelsberger. When in doubt a physical search will be conducted.

The Afghan National Civil Order Police Brigade Headquarters is not a big camp but it does receive a fair number of civilians.

“The need for this is pretty sizable,” said Adelsberger, adding, “we get civilians who have never been here before and need to be searched because they could pose a threat.”

“I really think the body scanner is going to make the camp a lot more secure,” said Pfc. Gerardo Montemayor, one of the operators with HHC, 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment.

• Date Taken: 07.30.2011
• Date Posted: 08.10.2011 02:00
• Story ID: 75100
• Location: KANDAHAR, AF